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Glen Garr cairn is a prehistoric funerary monument located in Ayrshire, Scotland. Constructed from stone gathered from the surrounding landscape, the cairn sits upon bedrock of Silurian mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, which would have offered abundant material for its construction. The monument dates to the Bronze Age or earlier, when such stone cairns served as burial monuments for individuals or small communities across Scotland's upland regions.
The cairn stands within the distinctive geology of south-west Scotland, where Silurian rocks form much of the solid ground. The builders of Glen Garr would have used locally available stone, shaping it into a mound to mark a grave and commemorate the deceased. The precise contents and date of the cairn remain undetermined without excavation, but similar monuments in Ayrshire typically date between the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
Glen Garr cairn is now protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2469, recognising its archaeological and heritage importance. The monument survives as a tangible link to Ayrshire's prehistoric past, offering insight into burial practices and the settlement patterns of ancient communities in south-west Scotland.
Glen Garr,cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2469. View the official record →
Glen Garr cairn is a prehistoric funerary monument located in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2469.
Glen Garr,cairn 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 SM2469.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Blacksidend,cairn (1.8 km), Chapelhouse,chapel and farmstead (5.3 km), Old Foundry Holm,ironworks (6.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Glen Garr,cairn'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.
Glen Garr,cairn stands on Silurian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.