Remains of Ancient Drystone Souterrain in Perthshire

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.

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)

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.

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.