© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
Cairn Buy is a Bronze Age burial cairn situated 720 metres north-west of Garheugh in Wigtownshire, south-west Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock of the Gala Group, a formation of hard wacke stone laid down during the Telychian age of the Ordovician period, some 430 million years ago. This ancient metamorphic base would have influenced the availability of stone for cairn construction, with local wacke likely quarried to build the mound.
The cairn represents a focal point for ritual burial practices during the Bronze Age, when such monuments marked the graves of individuals or small family groups. As a protected scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland's designation SM1923, it forms part of the extensive archaeological heritage of the Machars peninsula, an area rich in prehistoric remains spanning from Neolithic to Iron Age occupation.
The monument's survival in the landscape of north Wigtownshire reflects the traditional agricultural use of moorland and upland terrain in this region, where such structures have often escaped the levelling pressures that affected cairns in more intensively cultivated lowlands. The site contributes valuable evidence to understanding Bronze Age funerary practice and settlement patterns in south-west Scotland.
Cairn Buy,cairn 720m NW of Garheugh is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1923. View the official record →
Cairn Buy is a Bronze Age burial cairn situated 720 metres north-west of Garheugh in Wigtownshire, south-west Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1923.
Cairn Buy,cairn 720m NW of Garheugh is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM1923.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Garheugh,cairn 1050m NW of (0.4 km), Craignarget, cairn 800m ENE of (0.9 km), Chapel Finian, chapel, enclosure and well (2.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cairn Buy,cairn 720m NW of Garheugh's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Cairn Buy,cairn 720m NW of Garheugh stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.