Description

The monument comprises the remains of a series of enclosures and a ring ditch house of prehistoric date represented by cropmarks visible on oblique aerial photographs. The site appears to represent an unenclosed domestic nucleus consisting of ring-ditch houses, associated with a series of enclosures of varying form, all likely to date to the later prehistoric period.

The features lie on and around a level terrace at around 60m OD on ground otherwise rising to the SW. They comprise two large enclosures which are almost square on plan, a small sub-rectangular enclosure, a ring-ditch house and a series of less well-defined cropmarks which may represent field boundaries and further ring- ditches.

The largest enclosure lies on the E of the site. It is defined by a narrow ditch, 1-2m wide, enclosing an area of approximately 50m N-S by 40m with an entrance in the E corner of the N side. A number of dense, dark cropmarks within the enclosure may represent internal features, probably pits. Some 30m W of this enclosure, adjacent to the modern road, are the remains of a ring-ditch some 10m in diameter together with other cropmarks which may represent smaller, associated ring-ditches.

S of this lies a sub-rectangular enclosure measuring approximately 25m N-S by 15m. This structure may have been truncated by the modern road, perhaps losing part of its W ditch. A further large enclosure, of similar form and dimensions to that on the E of the site, lies on the W of the road. This has been truncated by recent roadworks but up to one third of its interior and ditch survive.

The area to be scheduled is in two parts, both irregular in shape, divided by the modern road. It encompasses the visible features and an area around them in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive. The E part has maximum dimensions of 130m N-S by 125m while the W part measures 80m N-S by 55m, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to add to our understanding of domestic and economic organisation in the later prehistoric period. The survival of an open settlement of this period, in apparent association with a series of enclosures and other cropmark features of varying forms, presents rare opportunities for the detailed investigation of the workings of a prehistoric farm in lowland southern Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT 77 SW 22 and 54.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland