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Robgill Mains is a cairn standing on the open moorland of Dumfriesshire, approximately 320 metres east of the farm buildings from which it takes its name. The monument occupies ground where Triassic sandstones and conglomerates form the underlying bedrock, deposited some 250 million years ago when this region lay beneath ancient desert environments. This geological foundation provided the stone from which the cairn was constructed.
The cairn represents a burial monument of Neolithic or Bronze Age date, when such structures served as focal points for ritual and commemoration across upland Scotland. Its position on relatively high, open ground is typical of cairns from these periods, which were often situated to command the surrounding landscape and remain visible across considerable distances. The Dumfriesshire moorlands held numerous such monuments, reflecting sustained settlement and ceremonial practice throughout prehistoric times.
Today the cairn is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland's designation SM11987. This recognition reflects the site's significance as evidence of early settlement patterns and funerary practices in south-west Scotland. The monument survives as a tangible record of the prehistoric communities who shaped this landscape, preserved within its accumulated stones the traditions and beliefs of those who built it millennia ago.
Robgill Mains, cairn 320m E of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM11987. View the official record →
Robgill Mains is a cairn standing on the open moorland of Dumfriesshire, approximately 320 metres east of the farm buildings from which it takes its name. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM11987.
Robgill Mains, cairn 320m E 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 SM11987.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Westhills, altar stone 35m N of (6.1 km), Eastriggs former munitions factory, glycerine distillery and acids production area, gun-cotton section and nitro-glycerine hill, 600m SSW, 700m SE and 2050m ESE of Rosslea (6.7 km), Annan Hill Roman camp (7.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Robgill Mains, cairn 320m E 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.
Robgill Mains, cairn 320m E of stands on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.