Constructed during the Bronze Age around 4,000 years ago, Memsie was once accompanied by two other large cairns and many smaller monuments, which were later plundered for building material.

Today, the Cairn of Memsie stands alone in the landscape where it once had companions.

It measures 82 feet (25 meters) across and 14 feet (4.5 meters) high. There are no obvious chambers within the cairn, with no visible kerb stones, just a large heap of round stones.

Excavations at Memsie included a broken leaf-shaped sword and a beaker pottery vessel. Such finds discovered within the cairn suggest it was used for burials into medieval times.