Description

The site comprises five circular enclosures thought to be the remains of post-medieval sheep folds. The remains are visible as turf-covered earthen features in upland grazing, located on a low, south-facing spur at approximately 300m above sea level. 

The enclosures form a small, dispersed group of five sheepfolds, approximately 500m apart. Each enclosure is defined by a low circular earthen bank, measuring between 9.5m and 22m in outer diameter. The banks are measured up to 0.7m high. In three examples, a gap in the bank suggests the position of an entrance. The northern most examples display slight turf-stripping scars around the outside of the earth banks while in one of the southern-most examples, a shallow groove on the top of the earthen bank is visible. 

The form and location of these features are consistent with turf-walled sheepfolds and therefore, post-medieval in date, probably from the 18th and/or 19th centuries. 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The culture significance of the site has been assessed as follows: 

Intrinsic Characteristics 

The monument was recorded in 1962 when it was interpreted as the remains of a group of five ring enclosures. These features were categorised chronologically among prehistoric classes of monument where '...a prehistoric date is suspected' but no further interpretation was provided (RCAHMS 1967, pp v, 66-69). Later additions to the national record for the sites revised the interpretation to indicate a much later function as a group of post-medieval sheepfolds. 

A review of the class of sites called 'ring enclosures' has clarified the likely origins and function of such enclosures showing that they are most likely to be post-medieval sheepfolds. Investigating the field characteristics of this example using historic mapping and airborne laser scanning shows that it has many features which identify this as a group of post medieval sheepfolds. The earthworks are generally sharp, indicative of a relatively recent date. Some have evidence of turf stripping halos and gaps in the bank representing entrances. The southern enclosures appear to overly improved grassland, with the northern one of this pair annotated 'Old Sheepfold' on historic Ordnance Survey mapping. The southerly one is depicted as a solid circle on both the 2nd and 3rd editions of the OS 6-inch map, with the 3rd edition annotating it specifically as a sheepfold. This evidence strongly supports a post-medieval date and agricultural function for this group of features – turf enclosures used to manage sheep on upland grazing. 

These remains are therefore relatively common features of post-medieval agricultural activity. They are simple turf and earth-built structures with relatively low archaeological potential. 

Contextual characteristics 

The monument (a group of five sheepfolds) is a component of a wider hill farming system, exploiting upland improved pasture at the western edge of the Moorfoot Hills. It is only partly representative of the agricultural activity taking place here. It is part of a wider regional distribution of similar earthen structures built for the management of livestock. 

It is not a rare survivor of its type and taken in isolation from the agricultural system to which it belongs, it has limited potential to help us understand how the wider landscape has developed.  

Associative characteristics 

No known associative character relating to this monument. 

National importance

The site does not meet the criterion of national importance for the following reasons: 

a. The monument, as a group of five post-medieval livestock enclosures, does not make a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past and does not have the potential to do so. The features are of a simple earth and turf, circular construction with limited archaeological potential in the buried soil layers.   

b. The monument is not a rare example of its class, with over 280 examples of ring enclosure (used to describe small circular enclosure of an agricultural nature defined by a turf or earthen bank) recorded in the national record and 25 examples known of within 10km of this location. There are an additional 3316 sheepfolds recorded which will include a wide variety of enclosures used to collect and control sheep. Some of these will include turf or earthen bank enclosures of a similar form to these examples. 

c. The monument does not have sufficient research potential with which to significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past. There is limited scientific, archaeological, historic or traditional, interest in this type of agricultural remains. 

d. As an isolated component of a wider agricultural system, the monument does not make a significant contribution to today's landscape or our understanding of the historic landscape.          

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland https://www.trove.scot/ reference numbers50095 – https://www.trove.scot/place/5009550114 – https://www.trove.scot/place/5011450115 – https://www.trove.scot/place/50115Bradford, B., Connolly, D., Hawker-Yates, L., Kdolska, H., Paice, C., Scott, G., & Wiseman, R. (2020). Archaeology on Furlough: Sheepfolds of the Lammermuirs. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.60154.

RCAHMS 1967, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Peeblesshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments. The Stationery Office. Edinburgh.

RCAHMS 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape. The Stationery Office. Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland