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: 56.5963 / 56°35'46"N
Longitude: -3.2977 / 3°17'51"W
OS Eastings: 320412
OS Northings: 745683
OS Grid: NO204456
Mapcode National: GBR V9.FKVM
Mapcode Global: WH6PG.9GWK
Entry Name: Old Mains of Rattray, enclosed settlement and souterrains 500m NNW of
Scheduled Date: 20 November 2002
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM7210
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: palisaded settlement
Location: Rattray
County: Perth and Kinross
Electoral Ward: Blairgowrie and Glens
Traditional County: Perthshire
The monument comprises an enclosed settlement and two souterrains of prehistoric date, visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs.
The monument lies in arable farmland at around 75m OD, on a knoll immediately S of the A926 public road. From the air the enclosure appears pear-shaped, although it is partially truncated to the N by the present road. The enclosure has maximum dimensions of about 54m by 42m and is defined by a narrow ditch about 0.5m wide.
This almost certainly represents a palisade trench (a continuous narrow trench which once held a timber fence of closely spaced posts). A curving cropmark, about 20m in length, lies within the W half of the interior of the enclosure and appears to represent the remains of a souterrain (an underground structure, thought to have been used for storage in later prehistory).
Adjacent to and SE of the souterrain, a series of post-holes is visible forming a circle some 7m across. These probably represent the remains of a timber roundhouse. A second souterrain, about 22m long, lies some 40m E of (outside) the enclosure.
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 with maximum dimensions of 140m E-W by 55m N-S, as marked in red on the accompanying map. The N boundary of the scheduled area is the A926 public road, which is excluded from the scheduling.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to our understanding of prehistoric settlement and economy. It is one of only two known examples of souterrains occurring within an enclosure in SE Perthshire.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NO 24 NW 44.
Aerial Photographs used:
RCAHMS (1988) PT/5987/TR NO24NW44, 65.
RCAHMS (1989) B17414/CN NO24NW44, 65.
RCAHMS (1989) B22674 NO24NW44, 65.
RCAHMS (1992) B79677 NO24NW44, 65.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments