Description

The monument comprises the remains of a cairn with burial cist, built probably between 3000 and 1000 BC in the late Neolithic or Bronze Age. The cairn is visible as a pronounced mound, lying between two small burns. The monument lies on relatively level ground on the NW slopes of the ridge of high ground occupied by Leapmore Forest. It stands at about 150m above sea level.

The most prominent part of the monument is a circular mound 12m in diameter and around 1.5m high. A less pronounced raised area extends beyond this feature to the west, measuring around 25m E-W by 18m transversely, defined to the south-west by an arc of large boulders 0.5m-1m in diameter. A rock-cut cist lies open on the NW edge of the inner mound and measures 1.7m N-S by 0.9m transversely by 0.6m deep.

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

Cultural Significance

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

Intrinsic characteristics

In SW Scotland, cairns often incorporate or overlie graves or pits containing cist settings, skeletal remains in the form of cremations or inhumations, and artefacts such as pottery and flintwork. Excavation suggests that many such cairns are late Neolithic or Bronze Age in origin, dating most commonly from the late third millennium BC to the early second millennium BC. This cairn preserves evidence of a burial cist, confirming that it marks the position of at least one burial, but its survival as an upstanding feature suggests that further archaeological information is likely to exist beneath its surface. Buried deposits can help us understand more about the practice and significance of burial and commemorating the dead at specific points in prehistory. They may also help us to understand the changing structure of society in the area. The visible remains suggest that this cairn has a complex form. The extensive but relatively slight raised area extending west of the prominent mound may represent an earlier feature, indicating that this may be a multi-period burial monument with the potential to provide evidence for changes in burial practice over time. In addition, the cairn is likely to overlie and seal a buried land surface that could provide evidence of the immediate environment before the monument was constructed, and botanical remains including pollen or charred plant material may survive within archaeological deposits deriving from the cairn's construction and use. This evidence can help us build up a picture of climate, vegetation and agriculture in the area before and during construction and use of the cairn.

Contextual characteristics

This monument belongs to a diverse group of up to 86 known or possible cairns in the former county of Renfrewshire, including some that have been destroyed by modern land use since they were recorded. The cairns cluster at between 200m and 300m above sea level, on the NE fringe of the uplands that define the southern edge of the Clyde Valley. The intensive use of the lowlands for agriculture, housing and industry, and the activities of archaeological researchers, have influenced the distribution pattern we see today and it seems certain that cairns would originally have been a feature of the lowlands as well as the uplands. Cairns seem often to be positioned for visibility both to and from the site, tending to be located on hill tops, false crests and ridges, and are generally inter-visible. In this area, the position and significance of cists in relation to contemporary agricultural land and settlement merits future detailed analysis.

This monument can be compared with three other cairns that lie within 1.7km, including two other cairns with cists that lie only 90m apart from each other. In addition, nine cairns lie around 5.5 km to the ENE, around Gryfe Reservoir. Survey work around the reservoir has revealed concentrations of late Neolithic or early Bronze Age pottery, as well as several hut circles, and similar remains may exist in the vicinity of the cairn. The monument can also be compared with excavated examples further afield, such as the cairn at East Green Farm, Kilmacolm, where at least two Bronze Age funerary urns were found, and that at South Mound of Houston, where the cairn covered a cist grave containing cremated human bone, a flint knife and a Bronze Age food vessel. Cairns were often long-lived foci of religious or funerary activity and have the potential to contain secondary burials. This longevity is demonstrated at South Mound of Houston, where the cairn re-used the location of a group of Neolithic pits and lay close to a probable cist cemetery. Given the many comparable sites in the area, this monument has the potential to further our understanding not just of funerary site location and practice, but also of the structure of early prehistoric society and economy.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, particularly the design and construction of burial monuments, the nature of burial practices and their significance in prehistoric and later society. Skeletal remains and artefacts from cairns can also enhance our knowledge about wider prehistoric society, how people lived, where they came from and who they had contact with. This monument is particularly significant because it displays evidence of a complex form and may have developed over time. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the placing of such monuments within the landscape and the meaning and importance of death and burial in prehistoric life.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the site as NS27SW 10. The WoSAS SMR records the site as WoSASPIN 5955.

References

Alexander, D (ed) 1996, Prehistoric Renfrewshire; Papers in Honour of Frank Newall, Renfrewshire Local History Forum.

Newall, F 1962, 'Early open settlement in Renfrewshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 95 (1961-2), 159-70.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland