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Cairn o'Mount is a cairns located in Kincardineshire, Scotland, and protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The monument sits upon bedrock of the Southern Highland Group, formed during the Middle Cambrian period and composed of alternating psammite and pelite deposits. These metamorphic rocks, originally sand and mud, underlie the upland terrain of this region and provided the stone from which the cairn was constructed.
The site occupies the distinctive landscape of the eastern Grampians, where Bronze Age communities built cairns to mark burial sites, territorial boundaries, or significant meeting places. The positioning of Cairn o'Mount within this geological setting reflects the practical choices of prehistoric builders who quarried from available local stone. The monument remains a physical testament to the Bronze Age occupation of the Scottish Highlands and the enduring relationship between human settlement and geology.
The cairn's survival into the modern era, despite centuries of agricultural and pastoral use, underscores the robustness of stone-built monuments in the Highland environment. Its protected status ensures that Cairn o'Mount continues to form part of the archaeological record of Kincardineshire, contributing to our understanding of prehistoric settlement patterns and monument construction practices in northeast Scotland.
Cairn o'Mount, cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4968. View the official record →
Cairn o'Mount is a cairns located in Kincardineshire, Scotland, and protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4968.
Cairn o'Mount, cairns 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 SM4968.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Glensaugh,farmstead and field system 900m NW of (2.3 km), Arnbarrow,farmstead and field system 900m NW of (3.1 km), Kincardine Deer Dyke and settlement S of East Burn of Cardowan (4.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cairn o'Mount, cairns'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 o'Mount, cairns stands on Southern Highland Group, bedrock that formed in the Middle Cambrian. The rock here is psammite and pelite.