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Harperrig East Cairn Hill is a Bronze Age cairn located in Midlothian, Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The monument stands on elevated moorland where the underlying bedrock comprises Inverclyde Group strata of Carboniferous age, composed of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. This geological foundation would have been visible to Bronze Age builders in outcropping stone suitable for cairn construction.
The cairn represents a funerary or ceremonial monument typical of the Bronze Age period, when such structures were erected across the upland zones of southern Scotland. The East Cairn Hill location, indicated by its name, suggests it may form part of a group of monuments on this hill, a pattern not uncommon where multiple cairns served overlapping communities across several centuries.
As a scheduled monument, Harperrig East Cairn Hill is subject to legal protection and any work affecting the site requires consent from Historic Environment Scotland. The cairn remains an important record of Bronze Age settlement and land use in the Midlothian uplands, where the moorland landscape has changed little since the monument's construction, preserving its setting and archaeological context.
Harperrig,cairn,East Cairn Hill is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1153. View the official record →
Harperrig East Cairn Hill is a Bronze Age cairn located in Midlothian, Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1153.
Harperrig,cairn,East Cairn Hill 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 SM1153.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Harperrig, cairn, West Cairn Hill (1.8 km), Cairns Castle (3.2 km), Corston Hill, cairn (5.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Harperrig,cairn,East Cairn Hill'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.
Harperrig,cairn,East Cairn Hill stands on Inverclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Osagean. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.