Culsh Earth House

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingNo car park

Arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport.

Parking details

Historic Scotland names no parking and there is no car park. Visitors pull onto the grass verge of the B9119 beside the site, with room for one or two cars, and must not use or block the private drive to Culsh farm next door.

Driving pin: Historic Scotland's own pin at the earth house, a few steps from the verge; the entrance faces away from the road, so follow the brown sign. The site is at Culsh, one mile east of Tarland on the B9119. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

Culsh Earth House lies beside the B9119 a mile east of Tarland in the Howe of Cromar, next to Culsh farm. It is an Iron Age souterrain about 2,000 years old, and despite its name it was never a dwelling but a stone-lined underground passage, remarkably complete and one of only a few in Scotland that can safely be entered. A curving trench was cut into the hillside, lined with drystone walls and roofed with stone slabs, making a passage about 14.5 metres long and up to 1.8 metres high. Its purpose is unknown: a hiding place, a store or a place of ritual, and two cup-marked stones in its walls were probably taken from an earlier sacred site. Reviewers say to bring a torch for a low entrance that opens into a dark, damp passage where you can stand. Bats may hibernate inside in winter. There is room for one or two cars on the verge; keep clear of the farm drive.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Culsh Earth HouseOpen at all times; an unstaffed site, no hours published

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'Culsh Earth House is free to visit and is open year-round.' No hours or notices on 20 October 2026. There is no gate or keyholder: the entrance is open. Historic Scotland has had consent since 2020 to block the inner passage with a timber frame, and a visitor in March 2023 found it closed for hibernating bats, so the interior may be shut in winter.

Bring a torch or phone light: daylight runs out a few feet inside. The entrance is low and needs a crouch or crawl before the passage rises to standing height; it is dark and damp inside, and strong footwear is recommended. A few steps or a grass slope lead down from the road; an information board stands at the entrance. No toilets or other facilities.

Photo: The low, lintelled entrance of Culsh Earth House in its grassy bank below the B9119, with a post-and-rail fence and the brown tourist sign behind. Euan Nelson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Culsh_souterrain,_Cromar_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3433798.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.