Description

The monument comprises an Iron-Age defended settlement situated on gently sloping ground, now covered in woodland, 490m south of the building at Hallmuir.

The settlement measures 115m N/S by 70m E/W transversely within an earth and stone rampart and a ditch. The rampart measures a maximum 7m wide and 1.2m high, with the ditch outside it being a maximum 11m wide and 1.6m deep. An entranceway cuts through the ramparts to the south-east. The defences are difficult to see on the western downhill side, and it may be that they were less pronounced here originally. No internal features can be seen as the interior is presently covered with dense forestry.

The area to be scheduled is an irregular polygon on plan, to include the remains described and an area around in which evidence relating to the settlement's construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduled area extends up to, but does not include, the surrounding fences.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

As an Iron-Age defended settlement in good condition, the monument retains well-defined, albeit denuded, sections of its perimeter rampart and ditch, except on the W side. The turf covering of the rampart is likely to aid the preservation of structural features within it. Use of the site as a plantation, as marked on mapping from the Ordnance Survey (OS) 2nd edition onwards means it has not been subjected to the heavy ploughing that characterises the modern landscape, indicating that the potential for preservation of features relating to the construction and use of the fort is high, particularly in the densely vegetated and inaccessible interior. Potential exists for a buried soil to be preserved beneath the rampart, and for waterlogged deposits to be preserved within the ditch, which would inform our understanding of the environmental conditions at the time the monument was built.

Contextual characteristics

Iron-Age defended settlements such as this are typically situated on the crests of ridges and spurs above the valley floor, so it is unusual that this settlement is in a different topographical location, on a gentle slope with limited views and surrounded by higher ground. This suggests either a functional or temporal difference to two further settlements on the ridge. We can compare the form of this settlement with the smaller one on the summit of the ridge to the west, as well as to the settlement of similar size on the flanks of the ridge to the north-west. The pairing of a larger site with a smaller site is not unusual. It may suggest that either the population of a group of farmers grew so much so that a second larger settlement needed to be built in a slightly less desirable location, with the first settlement being divided into two parts and used for stock keeping. Alternatively it may suggest that the large settlement was the original and population decline lead to the construction of a smaller settlement, which then contracted further with its division by a ditch. Such settlements may have developed from palisaded earthworks surrounding ring-ditch houses, which, over time and following abandonment and reuse, were rebuilt as more substantial univallate and multivallate enclosures. Spatial analysis of the site's relationship with nearby Iron-Age defended settlement sites in the wider landscape may enhance our understanding of the role of such structures, particularly with regards to society and economy. Comparison of the site with others will enable a better understanding of the construction and form of Iron-Age defended settlements.

Associative characteristics

The inclusion of this monument within a plantation by the time of the OS 2nd edition map suggests that it was considered important enough to escape the plough. Its presence has thus shaped the more recent agricultural landscape around it.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it is a good example of a well-preserved Iron-Age defended settlement with rampart and ditch remaining, situated in an atypical location yet still commanding a large area of cultivable land. The monument has the potential to provide well-preserved archaeological deposits within not just the interior of the settlement but also within the surrounding ditch and beneath the rampart. Potential exists to further our understanding of the relationship between the site and the two others nearby, both in terms of chronology and function. Its loss would impede our future ability to appreciate and understand the Iron-Age landscape and its inhabitants.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the site as NY17NW 4.

References:

RCAHMS 1920, SEVENTH REPORT WITH INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE COUNTY OF DUMFRIES, Edinburgh, HMSO, 112, 46.

RCAHMS 1997, EASTERN DUMFRIESSHIRE: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE, Edinburgh, HMSO, 130, 301, No. 785.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland