Oldest buildings in Scotland

This article lists the oldest extant freestanding buildings in Scotland. In order to qualify for the list a structure must:
* be a recognisable building (defined as any human-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy);
*incorporate features of building work from the claimed date to at least in height and/or be a listed building.

This consciously excludes ruins of limited height, roads and statues. Bridges may be included if they otherwise fulfill the above criteria. Dates for many of the oldest structures have been arrived at by radiocarbon dating and should be considered approximate.

The main chronological list includes buildings that date from no later than 1199 AD. Although the oldest building on the list is the Neolithic farmhouse at Knap of Howar, the earliest period is dominated by chambered cairns, numerous examples of which can be found from the 4th millennium BC through to the early Bronze Age.

Estimates of the number of broch sites throughout the country, which date from the Iron Age, range from just over 100 to over 500.Armit (2003) p. 16 However, only a small percentage are sufficiently well preserved for them to be included here and some of those that could be remain undated.

As there are relatively few structures from the latter half of the first millennium AD and a significant number from the 12th century, the latter group is placed in a sub-list. There are larger numbers of extant qualifying structures from 1200 onwards and separate lists for 13th-century castles and religious buildings are provided. As the oldest buildings in many of the council areas in the more urbanised Central Belt date from after the 14th century, a separate list showing oldest buildings by council area is provided.

There is also a supplementary list of qualifying structures for which no confirmed date of construction is available and a short listing of substantial prehistoric structures that are not buildings as defined above.

Main list

Neolithic and Bronze Age

Iron Age

Early Historic period

12th century

13th century

Castles

Religious buildings

By council area

The following are amongst the oldest buildings in each council area of Scotland.

Other structures

Undated buildings

The following are very old buildings that meet the qualifying criteria but for which no reliable date of construction has emerged.

Other prehistoric constructions

The following are very old human constructions that do not fit the above criteria for a building.

See also

* Architecture of Scotland in the Prehistoric era
* Timeline of prehistoric Scotland
* Oldest buildings in the United Kingdom
* List of oldest known surviving buildings
* Newgrange, one of Ireland's oldest buildings dating from c. 3100 BC
* La Hougue Bie, one of Jersey's oldest buildings dating from c. 3500 BC

Notes

Footnotes

References

* Armit, Ian (1996) ''The archaeology of Skye and the Western Isles''. Edinburgh University Press/Historic Scotland.
* Armit, I. (2003) ''Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland''. Stroud. Tempus.
* Coventry, Martin (2008) ''Castles of the Clans''. Musselburgh. Goblinshead.
* McDonald, R. Andrew (2007) ''The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard c. 1100 – c. 1336''. East Linton. Tuckwell Press.
* Miers, Mary (2008) ''The Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide''. Rutland Press.
* Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) ''The Orkney Book''. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
* Wickham-Jones, Caroline (2007) ''Orkney: A Historical Guide''. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
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