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Mains of Airleywight is a cairn situated in Perthshire, Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock formed from the Strathmore Group, ancient sedimentary rocks laid down during the Emsian period. These deposits of sandstone, interspersed with conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone, underlie the moorland landscape of the region and would have been exposed or mantled with thin soil when the cairn was constructed.
Cairns of this type, built by stacking stone, served as burial monuments or territorial markers across the Bronze Age and later periods. The Mains of Airleywight exemplifies the enduring monuments constructed across the Perthshire uplands, where their visibility across the surrounding terrain made them potent symbols of settlement and remembrance. The local geology would have offered readily available stone suitable for cairn building.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland, recognised as a site of archaeological significance under reference SM2898. Its presence forms part of the wider pattern of ancient monuments that characterise the Perthshire landscape, contributing to understanding of prehistoric communities and land use in east-central Scotland.
Mains of Airleywight,cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2898. View the official record →
Mains of Airleywight is a cairn situated in Perthshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2898.
Mains of Airleywight,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 SM2898.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Pitsundry, standing stone 250m W of (2.1 km), Loak, standing stone 470m SSE of (4.2 km), Court Hill,cairn,Loak (4.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Mains of Airleywight,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.
Mains of Airleywight,cairn stands on Strathmore Group, bedrock that formed in the Emsian. The rock here is sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone.