Remains of Ancient Drystone Souterrain in Perthshire

11 Apr

The underground remains of a souterrain in Perthshire Scotland. A large drystone wall is visible under a layer of long grass

Souterrains are ancient, stone-lined underground chambers. We don't know *exactly* what these would have been used for, perhaps storage, shelter or ritual/religious reasons.

Approaching, you can't see anything of this souterrain at all, it is incredibly well hidden. It's not until you are almost on top of it that you see the passageways which would have originally been completely covered.

The remains of a souterrain in Perthshire Scotland. You can see the drystone wall beneath the grass in the field and behind it a loughed field and trees into the distance

This souterrain is likely Iron Age (2000 to 3000 years old ish) and is very long, with several distinct sections. The passageways are around 2m deep and lined with drystone. The stones that were once the roof of the structure have fallen in many places, and are *huge*.

One section of passageway is still covered and is accessed through a small door. The roughly 15m of passageway beyond the door is completely stone lined. Drystone walls, with a stone slab ceilling, the floor may be bedrock. The passageway is around 2m tall, I had no trouble standing up in it. (images of that part are v grainy as they were shot at an obscenely high ISO). Looking around in the light of a head torch, we were excited to see that there was still some evidence of corbelling in places! (Image number 5, also super grainy)

The underground interior of a souterrain in Perthshire Scotland. The interior walls are built from drystone and at the end of a long dark corridor you can see the glowing light of the entranceway.

A black and white photograph of the interior of a Souterrain. A man is holding a torch onto its walls and the drystone is clearly visible. Perthshire Scotland

There are several stones with cup and ring marks, as well as some prehistoric 'graffiti' (was too dark to get a picture of it!), but you can see a faint ring mark on the slab below.

Some faded cup and ring marks on a large boulder near a souterrain in Perthshire. The boulder forms the roof a souterrain and is surrounded by grass and moss

So glad we made the short trip to see this, a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning. Here's another reminder to explore what's on your doorstep. There's magic everywhere.

dry stone perthshiresouterrainancientdrystone walls perthshiredrystone walling scotlanddrystone walls scotlanddrystanedrystone walls

Kristie De Garis

Remains of Ancient Drystone Souterrain in Perthshire

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