Description

The monument comprises the remains of an enclosed settlement of prehistoric date represented by cropmarks visible on oblique aerial photographs.

The monument lies at around 160m OD on a slight rise in an area of undulating pasture and is overlooked by higher ground to the N and S. The enclosure is defined by a ditch some 3-4m wide which encloses a trapezoidal area measuring some 50m N-S at its W end, by 50m from E to W, by 40-45m N-S at its E end. A well-defined entrance is centrally situated in the W-facing side and a dense, dark cropmark, probably indicative of surviving occupation deposits, occupies the SW part of the interior.

Rectilinear, square and trapezoidal enclosures of this kind are often interpreted as native settlements of the later Iron Age and Roman period. Some 100m N of the monument is the site of a previously excavated timber hall of Anglian and earlier date. A series of forts and enclosures of likely prehistoric date also lie in the vicinity.

The area to be scheduled encompasses the visible features and an area around them in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive. It is sub-rectangular with maximum dimensions of 120m E-W by 90m 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 native settlement organisation in the period of Roman influence in southern Scotland. As part of a group of cropmark enclosures of varying dates in the vicinity it can be expected to provide extremely important information relating to the development of settlement and economy from the later prehistoric period through to the early medieval period.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT 67 NE 45.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland