This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.
We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 56.588 / 56°35'16"N
Longitude: -3.3084 / 3°18'30"W
OS Eastings: 319742
OS Northings: 744775
OS Grid: NO197447
Mapcode National: GBR V9.FWZP
Mapcode Global: WH6PG.4NVX
Entry Name: Milton of Rattray, cursus & enclosed settlement S of
Scheduled Date: 23 February 1998
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM7172
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: palisaded settlement; Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cursus/ba
Location: Rattray
County: Perth and Kinross
Electoral Ward: Blairgowrie and Glens
Traditional County: Perthshire
The monument comprises a cursus and enclosure of prehistoric date, visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs.
The monument lies on level ground in arable farmland at about 45m OD, close to the N bank of the River Ericht. It comprises a pit-defined cursus, formed by two parallel lines of pits about 20m apart, running E-W for a visible distance of well over 100m. The pits measure about 2-3m in diameter and are set at intervals of about 4m. The terminals of the cursus are not visible.
Immediately to the S of the cursus is a series of cropmarks which appear to form elements of a rectilinear palisaded enclosure, the visible parts measuring about 25m by 10m. A dense, dark cropmark in the SW corner of this enclosure may represent the remains of a former timber structure.
Cursus monuments are elongated ceremonial "avenues" dating to the Neolithic period. The enclosure may be of similar date, but could equally well be a later settlement.
The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to be found. It is irregular in shape, measuring a maximum of 100m N-S by 270m between the easternmost and westernmost points, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to our understanding of Neolithic ritual practices.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NO 14 SE 82.
Aerial Photographs used:
RCAHMS (1990) B38409 NO14SE81, 82, 83.
RCAHMS (1990) B44136 NO14SE81, 82, 83.
RCAHMS (1992) B79673 NO14SE81, 82, 83.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments