Description

The monument comprises an alignment of three Bronze Age burial barrows surviving as buried (negative) features. It lies in a cultivated field 200m WSW of Fonn at about 25m above sea level, near to the campsite between Little Kildrummie and Howford Bridge.

The monument is a buried feature, visible on aerial photographs as a cropmark. The three barrows are aligned ENE to WSW, with the separation distances between each being approximately 11m for the W and central barrows and 15m for the central and E barrows. The central and W barrows are approximately the same size, each measuring approximately 11m in internal diameter within a 1.5m wide uninterrupted ditch. The E barrow is smaller, measuring 3.5m in internal diameter within a 1.0m wide ditch.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular on plan, to include the remains described and an area around within which evidence relating to their construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's archaeological significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics: An alignment of barrows visible as buried features on an aerial photograph, the monument is a well-preserved element of the Bronze Age funerary landscape. Potential exists for archaeological deposits and environmental remains to be preserved both in the interior of the monument and within the ditches surrounding each barrow, providing not only information on the usage of the barrow but also evidence of the Bronze Age environment within which the monument was built. The monument has the potential to further our understanding of Bronze Age funerary practices, as well as inform our knowledge of the structural features of barrows and surrounding ditches.

Contextual characteristics: The three barrows are representative of the clusters of prehistoric burial monuments which characterise this region. Their inclusion in an alignment of Bronze-Age sites that is 2.1km long and stretches from the nearby ring-ditch at Howford Bridge to the large upstanding barrow at Hangman's Hill enhances their value. This alignment and line of sight also cuts straight through the Late Neolithic to Early Historic settlement and funerary site 750 m WSW of Little Kildrummie. Spatial analysis of these barrows and other burial sites may further our understanding of funerary site location, the structure of society, and Bronze Age economy. Information gained from the preservation and study of this site has the potential to provide an insight into the wider knowledge of Bronze Age funerary practices across Scotland.

Associative characteristics: This monument represents a style of architecture developed during the Bronze Age as an expression of death and burial. Adjacent to the River Nairn, the deliberate positioning of the monument in relation to both the landscape and other contemporary sites adds an aesthetic attribute to its overall significance.

National Importance

This monument is of national importance because it is a well-preserved, representative cluster of Bronze Age barrows of differing size that characterise the wider relict funerary landscape, forming an intrinsic element of the prehistoric burial and settlement pattern along the River Nairn. Its inclusion in a 2.1km-long alignment of Bronze-Age sites across the landscape enhances its significance. Whilst the above-ground structure of the barrows has been lost to the wider landscape, archaeological and environmental deposits are likely to remain preserved within the ditches of each barrow. Potential exists for these deposits to provide information about what the contemporary environment looked like and how the prehistoric farmers who buried and cremated their dead in the barrows managed the land. Capacity exists for the monument to help further our understanding of the use of space for death and burial during the Bronze Age along this part of the North Highlands coastal plain. Its loss would impede our ability to understand the placing of such monuments within the landscape both in this region and across Scotland, as well as our knowledge of Bronze Age social structure and economy.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the site as NH85SE 57 and it is recorded in the Highland Council SMR as NH85SE0052.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland