Monument record MAB25993 - BARON'S CAIRN

Remains of a large cairn.

Remains of a large cairn. This is one of four large stone cairns on the gravel ridge of Tullos Hill which form the remains of an important Bronze Age cairn cemetery, probably dating to the early 2nd millennium BC. The body of the mound is a mass of boulders that includes some of pink granite. The original shape of the cairn has been lost and an Ordnance Survey trig point has been inserted on to the top. It is 18m diameter and 1.7m high. Due to its prominent position in the landscape it has been damaged by more recent activity. It was damaged by the construction of a look-out point or watch tower during World War II. A local resident remembers the ruined brick building in the late 1950s and that after an accident the building was demolished. Bricks are still visible around the cairn. There has never been an archaeological excavation of this cairn. It may cover the burial place of a high status member of society and this could explain the location of the cairn in such an elevated position. This is one of the most noticeable of the cairns on Tullos Hill. The naming of the cairns on Tullos Hill is recent. Brown's map of the area in 1777 is the first very detailed map of the area (it is held in the city archives). It reveals that Tullos cairn was so named in 1777 but none of the rest of the cairns had their modern names at that point. In the vicinity of what we call Baron's cairn there was a 'march' cairn marked in 1777, i.e. a cairn used to define the boundary of an estate. It is likely that this cairn is the cairn more recently named Baron's Cairn as it lies in roughly the same position today. recorded in 2004 CFA survey NJ90SE0586. A watching brief was carried out by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit in 2009 during ground works for a kissing gate in proximity to the cairn, but no archaeological features were observed.

CFA ARCHAEOLOGY, 2004, TULLOS HILL, ABERDEEN, WALKOVER SURVEY (Bibliographic reference). SAB7086.

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 2010, REPORT ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL WATCHING BRIEF AT NESS FARM AND TULLOS HILL LANDFILL SITE, NIGG, ABERDEEN (Bibliographic reference). SAB6477.

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL, 2016, A GUIDE TO THE HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF TULLOS HILL (Bibliographic reference). SAB8382.

Aug 5 1988 , AAS/88/08/S16/13, 14, AAS/88/08/S16/13, 14 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB34029.

Aug 19 1987 , AAS(A)/87/02/S2/2, AAS(A)/87/02/S2/2 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB34028.

Mar 15 2001 , AAS-01-2-G3-10, AAS-01-2-G3-10 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB34052.

Record last edited

Apr 7 2026 11:08AM