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Colliston Castle is a Iron Age enclosed settlement in Angus, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The site comprises an enclosure with an associated souterrain, together with ring ditches and a pit alignment that extend beyond the main fortified area. These elements represent a complex of domestic and possibly ritual structures spanning the later prehistoric period.
The monument lies on bedrock of the Arbuttnott-Garvock Group, a Pragian sandstone formation interbedded with conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone. This mixed geology would have provided both stone for construction and the variability of soils that Iron Age communities in this region exploited for settlement. The souterrain, a characteristic feature of Iron Age and Romano-British sites in eastern Scotland, may have served as storage, refuge or ceremonial space, whilst the outlying ring ditches and pit alignment suggest the site extended beyond a single defensive circuit.
The enclosure, souterrain, ring ditches and pits together document the spatial organisation of an Iron Age community in the fertile Angus lowlands, one of several such settlements distributed across the region's productive agricultural land between the fifth century BC and the first century AD.
Colliston Castle,enclosure,souterrain,ring ditches & pit alignment is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6125. View the official record →
Colliston Castle is a Iron Age enclosed settlement in Angus, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6125.
Colliston Castle,enclosure,souterrain,ring ditches & pit alignment dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a enclosure,souterrain,ring ditches & pit alignment. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Colliston Castle,enclosure,souterrain,ring ditches & pit alignment 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 SM6125.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Dickmount Law, cairn (5.4 km), Souterrain, Eastern Cemetery, Arbroath (5.5 km), Arbirlot, carved stone 20m S of Manse (6.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Colliston Castle,enclosure,souterrain,ring ditches & pit alignment'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.
Colliston Castle,enclosure,souterrain,ring ditches & pit alignment stands on Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, bedrock that formed in the Pragian. The rock here is sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone.