Between the 12th century and the Reformation of the 1560s a number of monasteries were endowed and built across Scotland for various orders, including the Cistercians and Augustinians, Dominicans and Franciscans. Now ruinous, each was set in a considerable area of land and enclosed by a precinct wall.
A small number of cathedrals were established at this time but they also became ruinous after the Reformation when the lands were confiscated by the crown or burgh courts, and the buildings were robbed for their masonry and roofing materials. Many are now visitor attractions, and a few have been rebuilt for modern religious use.
The two widely-spaced linear cropmarks at Cambusmichael in Perthshire are the remains of ditches enclosing land belonging to the Augustinian monks of Scone Abbey. These features are most likely connected to Cambusmichael Church, shown as a ruin on the image, which could be of 12th century origin.
HES SC816254
