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Creag Dhubh, shielings 400m W of, is a shielings site in Perthshire, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. Shielings are temporary settlements that served as summer pasture grounds for herds during the transhumance pastoral cycle, a practice fundamental to Highland economy. These structures typically consisted of small stone buildings and associated enclosures, occupied seasonally when livestock was moved to upland grazings to exploit fresh vegetation whilst lowland pasture recovered.
The site lies on bedrock of the Argyll Group, a Neoproterozoic sequence of metamorphic psammites, semipelites and pelites that forms much of the Perthshire landscape. This geology creates steep, exposed terrain characteristic of the Scottish Highlands, which would have supported the rough grazing essential for the shieling economy. The location, 400 metres west of Creag Dhubh hill, places the settlement within the upland zone suitable for summer occupation.
Such shielings were typically occupied from late spring through summer by young herders and dairying women who produced butter and cheese whilst tending cattle herds. The tradition persisted in parts of Scotland until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when economic and social changes gradually replaced transhumance with permanent lowland settlement. The remains at this site represent a significant aspect of pre-modern Highland pastoral life and land use.
Creag Dhubh, shielings 400m W of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6226. View the official record →
Creag Dhubh, shielings 400m W of, is a shielings site in Perthshire, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6226.
Creag Dhubh, shielings 400m W of 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 SM6226.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Leacann Ghlasa, peat stores, buildings and trackway (0.9 km), Leacann Ghlasa,shielings 1000m NW of (1.4 km), Burn of Edramucky,shielings and roadways 600m W of Leacann Ghlasa (1.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Creag Dhubh, shielings 400m W of'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.
Creag Dhubh, shielings 400m W of stands on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite, semipelite and pelite.