Description

The monument is a pre-improvement farmstead (some 200 to 600 years old) situated in rough pasture on Harelaw Moor, to the W of the Blackadder Water and to the N of a small burn which rises at a spring known as the Virtue Well. The farmstead consists of a single rectangular building, surviving as a low earth-bonded stone wall, measuring 6m (E-W) by 3m. The building appears to overlie an earlier, longer building measuring 12m by 4m.

From the SE corner of the earlier building, a wall surviving as a low bank runs eastward for about 20m before turning N and running for about 27m to meet the slope of a knoll immediately to the N of the farmstead. The knoll appears to define the N and W limits of the farmstead. Within this yard, c. 8m from the E boundary are the remains of what may be another rectangular building. A long rectangular gully, cut into the knoll above the yard, appears to be associated with the farmstead.

To the N of the earlier building is a low sub-rectangular mound, possibly the remains of a stack-stand. The farmstead and associated gully measure about 35m square overall. The area to be proposed for scheduling includes the buildings, yard, associated remains, and an area around them in which traces of activity associated with their use will survive. The area is a rectangle measuring 75m (E-W) by 60m transversely.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a well-preserved example of a pre-improvement farmstead which has the potential to increase our understanding of the settlement and economy of the Middle Ages and later in upland areas in S Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded in the RCAHMS as NT 64 NE 2.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland