Description

The site comprises a single circular enclosure thought to be the remains of a post-medieval sheepfold. The remains are visible as a low, turf-covered stony feature in upland grazing, overlooking two tributaries of the River Clyde, at approximately 290m above sea level. 

The enclosure is obscured by vegetation but has previously been recorded as 16m in diameter and surviving to a height of 0.3m. The stony bank forming the enclosure circle is recorded between 2.1m and 3.4m in thickness. There are two shallow grooves in the bank in its southeastern arc and a stony mound is visible in the interior. 

The form and location of the features is consistent with a sheepfold and therefore, post-medieval in date, probably from the 18th and/or 19th centuries. 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

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

Intrinsic Characteristics 

The monument was first recorded in 1975 when surveyors interpreted the remains as an enclosed cremation cemetery (probable), noting the presence of shallow grooves in parts of the ringwork and a small stony mound within the interior. A later reference to the site (Stevenson 1985) expands on the likely Bronze Age origin and function here. However, this example shares field characteristics with similar circular features from different periods and with different functions - researchers have also recognised the variety in the form of enclosed cremation cemetery and overall, the difficulties of such classification based on fieldwork alone (RCAHMS 1978, 7).   

Results from recent research into a group of sites with similar field characteristics and classified as either ring enclosure or enclosed cremation cemetery have suggested a much later, post-medieval date and a likely agricultural function here and in other cases. Scrutiny of this example using filed observation, historic mapping and airborne laser scanning concludes with this post-medieval and agricultural date and function – a stone enclosure used to manage sheep on upland grazing. The First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping records the feature as 'Sheep Ree' suggesting that it was in use at that time as a sheep fold. 

The grooves appear to be the dismantled robbed wall-faces of the fold, where the last stones were removed after the smaller pinnings and rubble core had been discarded. Other examples of robbed stone stells that went out of use in the late 19th century have been recorded elsewhere, for example at Stanhope in Peeblesshire (NRHE ID 68636). The stony mound in the interior of the sheepfold appears likely to be one of the small cairns scattered across the hillside and its juxtaposition with the sheepfold is probably no more than a coincidence.

These remains are therefore a relatively common feature of post-medieval agricultural activity. They are simple turf or stone-built structures with relatively low archaeological potential. 

Contextual characteristics 

The monument (a single sheepfold) is a component of a wider hill farming system, exploiting upland improved pasture along the upper River Clyde and its catchment. It is only partly representative of post-medieval agricultural activity taking place here. It is part of a wider regional distribution of similar earthen structures built for the management of livestock and one of a small cluster of these structures in this area. 

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 single post-medieval livestock enclosure, does not make a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past and does not have the potential to do so. The feature is of a simple earth and stone construction with limited archaeological potential in the buried soil layers. The presence of a mound contained by the enclosure is interesting and probably is a clearance cairn of unknown date This is does not provide further, sufficient character. 

b. The monument is not a rare example of its class, with over 3300 examples of 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 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/place/47394 (accessed on 09/07/2025). Trove ID 47394.

Ordnance Survey, 1864, Six inch 1st edition map. Lanarkshire, Sheet XLVII.

RCAHMS, 1978, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Lanarkshire: an inventory of the prehistoric and Roman monuments. Edinburgh. 77, 168

Stevenson J B, 1985, Exploring Scotland's heritage: the Clyde estuary and Central Region, Exploring Scotland's heritage series. Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland