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Cursus and barrows 240m NE of Bullionfield is a Neolithic and Bronze Age monument complex in Perthshire, Scotland. The cursus consists of two parallel ditched banks forming a linear ceremonial enclosure typical of the Neolithic period. Such monuments, often hundreds of metres long, served ritual and processional purposes within early farming communities. The barrows adjacent to the cursus represent burial mounds of Bronze Age date, when these earlier sacred landscapes continued to hold significance for successive generations.
The monument sits on bedrock of the Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, Pragian sandstones interlayered with conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone. This geology provided both suitable ground for construction and useful stone materials for the ritual structures. The combination of a cursus with associated barrows reflects a burial tradition linking formal ceremonial monuments across several centuries of prehistory.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland reference SM6560, acknowledging its importance to understanding ritual practice and settlement patterns in prehistoric Perthshire. The survival of both earthwork elements—the cursus banks and barrow mounds—allows interpretation of how Neolithic communities organised ceremonial space and how Bronze Age peoples later used these landscape features as focal points for their own burial practices.
Cursus and barrows, 240m NE of Bullionfield is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6560. View the official record →
Cursus and barrows 240m NE of Bullionfield is a Neolithic and Bronze Age monument complex in Perthshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6560.
Cursus and barrows, 240m NE of Bullionfield 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 SM6560.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Barrow, 350m NNW of 28 Red Cliffs (1.4 km), Unenclosed settlement and enclosure, 185m north of Eastbank Farm (2.7 km), Balmerino Abbey (6.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cursus and barrows, 240m NE of Bullionfield'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.
Cursus and barrows, 240m NE of Bullionfield stands on Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, bedrock that formed in the Pragian. The rock here is sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone.