© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
Trothanmas Hillock is a medieval cairn located at Netherside near Castletown in Caithness, northern Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a sequence of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone laid down during the Middle Devonian period. This geological foundation has shaped the local landscape and the materials available for cairn construction throughout the medieval period.
The cairn is situated within the distinctive topography of Caithness, where Devonian sandstones form rolling moorland punctuated by rocky outcrops. Such elevated positions were commonly chosen for medieval cairns, which served various functions including burial, territorial markers, or landscape navigation points. The specific location at Netherside places the monument within a landscape rich in prehistoric and medieval settlement evidence.
Trothanmas Hillock is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM493, acknowledging its significance to Scotland's medieval heritage. The protection of cairns of this type reflects their importance in understanding medieval settlement patterns, land use and social organization in the far north of Scotland.
Trothanmas Hillock,cairn,Netherside,Castletown is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM493. View the official record →
Trothanmas Hillock is a medieval cairn located at Netherside near Castletown in Caithness, northern Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM493.
Trothanmas Hillock,cairn,Netherside,Castletown dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a cairn,netherside,castletown. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Trothanmas Hillock,cairn,Netherside,Castletown 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 SM493.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Stemster, long cairn 790m NNW of Roadside (4.2 km), Sinclair's Sithean,long cairn 1300m NW of Stemster (4.8 km), Stone Lud, standing stone, recumbent stone and cairn 240m WSW of Ludstone Cottage (5.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Trothanmas Hillock,cairn,Netherside,Castletown'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.
Trothanmas Hillock,cairn,Netherside,Castletown stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.