Building record MAB34492 - TEALING

Souterrain (Wainwright's Tealing III).

Souterrain (Wainwright's Tealing III). Discovered during agricultural operations in the Ha'field in 1871 (possibly on 23rd August). It was cleared out with some care under the supervision of Mr Walter McNicoll, the land steward at Tealing. The operations and the fencing off of the area were paid for by Mrs Scrymgeour-Fotheringham of Tealing. A classic 'Angus-type' souterrain, it has a narrow, constricted entrance, is curved in plan, and the inner end is rounded and expanded. It is divided into two compartments by uprights at the entrance and towards the inner end of the chamber and is circa 24.4m long. Its greatest width is 2.6 m, 1.5 m from the inner end, and its maximum height is circa 1.93 m. The sloping floor, where it is not natural rock, seems to have been paved. Finds, which were in the possession of Mr W. McNicoll, but are now lost, included charcoal, animal bones, horse's teeth, a piece of Samian ware, a bracelet, bronze rings, cinerary urn fragments (presumably native pottery), 10 querns, whorls (both finished and unfinished), a metal object, the remains of stone cups and a piece of sandstone with 'mussel shell looking markings'. This latter object has no recorded findspot and may be natural, with pebbles formerly occupying the voids. Jervise plots the majority of the finds either side of the entrance to the end chamber, and at another point, 'Samian ware, urns etc', discovered where the passage turns southwards at the northern end. In 1940, a fragment of Roman glassware (not mentioned in the accounts of Jervise or Allen) from the souterrain was donated to the NMAS by Dr J. D. Gilruth who, in 1939, had 'acquired a number of objects said to have come from the earth house at Tealing, from the heirs of an old man who had been present at its excavation in 1871'. The glass is from a 1st-2nd century 'pillar moulded' bowl and the Samian is possibly 2nd century. Built into the north wall of the entrance passage, evidently part of the original structure and 0.61 m from the doorway, is a cup-and-ring-marked stone measuring 0.9 m x 0.61 m. It has 16 cups of varying diameter (25-75 mm). One cup is surrounded by four concentric rings, three others have a single ring and there are two connecting grooves, one linking the four ringed cup with a single ringed cup. A second cup-marked stone was found 3.65 m south of the entrance on the surface of the ground. It measures 1.37 m x 0.76 m x 0.15 m, is roughly semi-circular, has plough scoring on one side and 55 cups varying from 25-50 mm in diameter. A hut circle allegedly lay just north of this stone, but was not located by the OS when they visited in 1958. Neither was a third stone, described by J. R. Allen as being in the east wall of the main chamber of the structure, with some apparently artificial scratching on it. The cup marked stones were recorded in 2019 by Scotland's Rock Art Project. which noted 45 cup marks and four further possible cup marks on stone o the east side of the souterrain, and on the panel in the north wall a cup with three rings and a further 10 cup marks.

A/35015/P, A/35015/P (Photograph). SAB23808.

A/35016, A/35016 (Photograph). SAB21347.

A/35017, A/35017 (Photograph). SAB21348.

A/35018, A/35018 (Photograph). SAB23809.

A/35489/P, A/35489/P (Photograph). SAB21349.

A/35490, A/35490 (Photograph). SAB21350.

A/35491, A/35491 (Photograph). SAB21351.

A/35492, A/35492 (Photograph). SAB23810.

A/82662/CS, A/82662/CS (Photograph). SAB21352.

AN/4639, AN/4639 (Photograph). SAB21353.

AN/4640, AN/4640 (Photograph). SAB23811.

AN/4641, AN/4641 (Photograph). SAB23812.

AN/4642, AN/4642 (Photograph). SAB21354.

AN/4643/CN, AN/4643/CN (Photograph). SAB21355.

AN/4644/CN, AN/4644/CN (Photograph). SAB21356.

AN/4645, AN/4645 (Photograph). SAB23813.

B/51372/PO, B/51372/PO (Photograph). SAB21357.

DC/14988/P, DC/14988/P (Photograph). SAB23559.

JERVISE, A, 1875, NOTICE REGARDING A 'PICTS HOUSE' AND SOME OTHER ANTIQUITIES IN THE PARISH OF TEALING, FORFARSHIRE IN PSAS, 10, 287-93, PSAS, 10, 287-93 (Bibliographic reference). SAB934.

Allen, J R, 1881, PREHISTORIC REMAINS NEAR TEALING, 254-9 (Bibliographic reference). SAB10713.

Curle, J, 1932, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 66, 288, 388 (Bibliographic reference). SAB11824.

Young, A, 1938, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 72, 148 (Bibliographic reference). SAB10338.

THORPE, WA, 1940, A FRAGMENT OF ROMAN GLASSWARE FROM TEALING, ANGUS. IN PSAS 74, 134-5., 134-5 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1992.

Charlesworth, D, 1959, Archaeol Aeliana 4th 37, 36 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6803.

WAINWRIGHT, F. T., 1963, THE SOUTERRAINS OF SOUTHERN PICTLAND, 213-15 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2085.

Coutts, H, 1970, [Untitled], 45 (Bibliographic reference). SAB10764.

Robertson, A S, 1970, Britannia 1, Table 4 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9708.

MacKie, E W, 1975, SCOTLAND: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL GUIDE, 185 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6328.

Barclay, G, 1981, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 110, passim (Bibliographic reference). SAB5319.

SHEPHERD, IAG, 1988, THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY SUMMER CONFERENCE 1988: ABERDEEN AND NORTH EAST SCOTLAND, 57-8 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1744.

ARMIT, I, 2000, THE ABANDONMENT OF SOUTERAINS: EVOLUTION, CATASTROPHE OR DISLOCATION? IN PSAS 129 (1999), 577-596 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8747.

Aug 4 2014 , AAS/GR/14/08/205-227, AAS/GR/14/08/205-227 (Ground Photograph). SAB33954.

Record last edited

Jan 13 2026 5:02PM