Cairnvault · Aberdeenshire
Outlast the flood.
Your words, engraved in stone and sealed underground in Aberdeenshire. Built to last thousands of years, long after the servers have gone dark.
Status: in preparation. The first stones are sealed when the vault opens.
Why stone
The myth
After the flood, Deucalion, son of Prometheus, threw stones over his shoulder, and people grew from them.
The problem
A file needs power, a format and a company to go on existing. Our photos, letters and voices now live on servers that will not outlast the businesses that run them.
The answer
A stone in the ground needs nothing. We cut your words into granite or slate and seal them away, numbered and recorded.
Four steps
How it works
Write it
Choose a stone and a layout, then write your words: a letter, a name, a promise.
Approve the proof
We send you exactly how it will look. Nothing is cut until you say yes.
We engrave it
In granite or slate, in our own workshop in Aberdeenshire.
We seal it
Your stone is numbered, photographed going in, and entered in the vault register.
For the moments worth keeping
A birth
A letter to read when they are grown.
A wedding
Your vows, set in stone.
Remembering
Someone's words, carried forward.
Your future self
A note from now, for whoever comes after.
A group
A time capsule for a class, a club or a founding.
Choose your stone
Keepsake
Palm-sized granite or slate. Up to about sixty words, laid out from our templates. Sealed in the shared vault in a numbered position.
£150Heirloom
A larger granite stone with deep-cut lettering and your own design, in its own sealed sleeve. You're welcome to come to the sealing.
from £400Legacy
Fired ceramic tablets for long letters and family archives, in a deeper vault. We'll offer it once we've built it.
laterEvery stone comes with a numbered certificate, its place in the register and a photograph of it going in. Add a matching twin stone to keep at home for £40.
Our first vault
Cairnvault
Somewhere in Aberdeenshire, in country where Neolithic cairns have stood for more than four and a half thousand years. Their builders left no names. You can.
We say thousands of years because that is what the vault and the stone can hold up.
Questions
When can I order?
We're building the vault and testing the engraving now. Join the list and we'll write to you once, when orders open.
Do I get to see the stone before it's sealed?
Yes. You approve a proof before anything is cut, and we send a photograph of your finished stone going into the vault.
Can I visit?
Heirloom customers can come to the sealing of their stone. The vault itself is sealed and its exact position is kept private, so the stones are left undisturbed.
What happens to the stones if the company ends?
We plan to place the vault land in a separate body set up only to protect it, so it can't be sold or dug up. Until that's in place, the stones are held in our pilot vault under a written agreement with the landowner, and we'll tell every customer exactly where things stand.
Can I include ashes or keepsakes?
Not at the moment. We seal engraved stones only. Remains are covered by their own laws in Scotland, and we'd only offer that with proper legal advice behind it.
Is there anything you won't engrave?
We won't cut anything hateful or unlawful. If we can't engrave a message, we'll tell you why and refund you in full.
Be among the first stones.
Join the list and we'll write to you once, when the vault opens. No newsletters, and we never share your address.