© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
St Serf's Church, Dunning is an Iron Age fortification situated in Perthshire, Scotland, built upon bedrock of the Arbuthnott-Garvock Group. This geological formation, comprising sandstone interspersed with conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone, dates to the Pragian period and provides the foundation for the monument's defensive earthworks. The stable sandstone base would have offered good drainage and solid ground for construction, practical advantages that likely influenced the choice of this location.
The structure represents a dunning, a Scottish term for a small, typically univallate hillfort characteristic of the Iron Age period. These fortifications served as defended settlements or refuges for local communities, their modest size reflecting the territorial organisation of prehistoric Perthshire. St Serf's Church derives its name from a later religious association, common in Scotland where ecclesiastical sites were established on or near ancient fortifications, though the church itself post-dates the Iron Age work by over a thousand years.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under scheduling reference SM90321, recognising its archaeological significance as evidence of Iron Age settlement patterns in central Scotland. The site's survival to the present day, despite intensive agricultural and settlement history in this fertile lowland region, makes it an important record of prehistoric land use in Perthshire.
St Serf's Church, Dunning is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM90321. View the official record →
St Serf's Church, Dunning is an Iron Age fortification situated in Perthshire, Scotland, built upon bedrock of the Arbuthnott-Garvock Group. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM90321.
St Serf's Church, Dunning dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a dunning. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
St Serf's Church, Dunning 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 SM90321.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Millhaugh,enclosure and pit alignment 300m E of (0.8 km), Cairn and mortuary enclosure 120m WSW and 150m SW of Cranberry (1.1 km), Henge and palisaded enclosure, 220m WSW and 210m SW of Millhaugh Farmhouse (1.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of St Serf's Church, Dunning'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.
St Serf's Church, Dunning stands on Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, bedrock that formed in the Pragian. The rock here is sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone.