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Latitude: 56.8133 / 56°48'48"N
Longitude: -2.4492 / 2°26'57"W
OS Eastings: 372672
OS Northings: 769182
OS Grid: NO726691
Mapcode National: GBR X6.2HS1
Mapcode Global: WH8R5.B0YN
Entry Name: Tower of Johnston,cairn and tower
Scheduled Date: 15 August 1996
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM6435
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain); Secular: tower
Location: Garvock
County: Aberdeenshire
Electoral Ward: Mearns
Traditional County: Kincardineshire
The monument comprises the substantial remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn, 29m in diameter and over 2m in height.
Its site is very prominent, and, in the 19th century, was chosen as the site for the Tower of Johnston, a hollow tower c. 10m high, with an internal spiral staircase and a crenellated platform on the top.
The area to be scheduled measures 80m in diameter, centred on the cairn, to include the cairn, the entire structure of the Tower of Johnston, and an area around in which burials or other traces of activity associated with the cairn may survive. The area is marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The cairn is of national importance as a very substantial and largely undisturbed burial site ' the Tower seems to have been built onto its upper surface ' which preserves the characteristics of its type very well. The cairn may be expected to contain important information about prehistoric ritual and funerary practices. The cairn has additional importance as one of a group of hill-top cairns in the area.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NO 76 NW 2.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments