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National Trust for Scotland Black Hill
A spectacular viewpoint over the Clyde and Avon Valley with a Bronze Age history
The National Trust for Scotland viewpoint at Black Hill is celebrated as one of the best places to view the Clyde and Avon Valley. If you look closely, the archaeological secrets of this special and historic place can be revealed.
Designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1969, Black Hill stands 290 metres tall 3 km east of Blackwood and looks down on to Kirkfieldbank and the Clyde Valley beyond. Visitors can also see Goat Fell on the Island of Arran and the Cobbler, Ben Lomond and parts of the Southern Highlands.
The outline of a prehistoric settlement and Bronze Age burial cairn are visible on Black Hill, and it’s possible that people would have been living on the hill as far back as 1000BC. A triangulation point now sits on top of the cairn, which would once have been used for ritual reasons and been an important place to bury and mark the dead. A similar but larger cairn can be found on nearby Tinto Hill. It’s been suggested that the cairn may have been used as a means of deciding a date for the Winter solstice.
