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Earl's Cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn situated north of Hollandmake in Inkstack, Caithness. The monument stands on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a conglomerate and sandstone formation dating to the Middle Devonian period. This durable geology would have provided a stable foundation for the cairn's construction and shaped the local landscape available to its Neolithic builders.
Chambered cairns such as Earl's Cairn were built during the Neolithic period as communal burial monuments, typically containing a stone-built chamber within a mound of stone. These structures served important social and ritual functions within early farming communities. The Caithness landscape contains numerous such cairns, reflecting the region's significance as a centre of Neolithic activity in northern Scotland.
Earl's Cairn is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland reference SM449. The monument survives as a substantial landmark in the far north of mainland Scotland, contributing to our understanding of Neolithic settlement patterns and burial practices in this remote but archaeologically rich region.
Earl's Cairn,chambered cairn N of Hollandmake,Inkstack is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM449. View the official record →
Earl's Cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn situated north of Hollandmake in Inkstack, Caithness. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM449.
Earl's Cairn,chambered cairn N of Hollandmake,Inkstack dates from the neolithic period, and is classified as a chambered cairn n of hollandmake,inkstack. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Earl's Cairn,chambered cairn N of Hollandmake,Inkstack 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 SM449.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Scarfskerry,Kirk o'Banks (4.3 km), Dunnet,two cairns on W side of Dunnet-Castleton Road (4.5 km), Ham,chambered cairn 180m NW of,Brough (4.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Earl's Cairn,chambered cairn N of Hollandmake,Inkstack'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.
Earl's Cairn,chambered cairn N of Hollandmake,Inkstack stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.