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Dowries is a cairn located in Renfrewshire, south-west Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The monument sits upon bedrock of Dinantian age, comprising unnamed extrusive rocks of mafic composition—primarily ancient lava flows and volcanic tuff laid down during the Mississippian period, approximately 360 million years ago. This volcanic geology forms part of the underlying landscape across much of central Scotland.
Cairns of this type were constructed during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods as burial monuments, typically comprising heaps of stone covering a central burial chamber or cremation deposit. The specific date of Dowries remains undetermined without excavation, though its survival to the present day indicates its enduring significance within the local landscape and community memory.
The monument's legal protection reflects its importance as an archaeological resource and as a tangible link to Scotland's prehistoric past. Its position on this distinctive volcanic bedrock is typical of many upland cairn sites in Renfrewshire, where the underlying geology has shaped both human settlement patterns and the preservation conditions for such ancient monuments.
Dowries, cairn 495m SW of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM12838. View the official record →
Dowries is a cairn located in Renfrewshire, south-west Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM12838.
Dowries, cairn 495m SW 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 SM12838.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Garvock, farmstead 825m SE of (0.7 km), Garvock, cairn 780m ENE of (1.3 km), Muiredge, cairn 1050m W of (1.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Dowries, cairn 495m SW 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.
Dowries, cairn 495m SW of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Dinantian, bedrock that formed in the Mississippian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.