Description

The site comprises two circular earthwork rings thought to be the remains of post-medieval stock control features. The remains are visible as low, turf-covered earthen features, one of which has a raised central platform and the other a gap in the ringwork. They are located at the edge of an open area of mature conifer woodland at approximately 280m above sea level. 

The earthworks have previously been recorded as approximately 5.5m and 8.5m in overall diameter and surviving to a height of approximately 0.3m. There is a break in the bank of the southern-most example, suggesting the position of an entrance. The northern-most example contains the remains of a central, raised platform at 5m in diameter and up to 0.2m in height, and its southeast quadrant has been disturbed. 

The form and location of the 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 first recorded in 1970 when surveyors interpreted the remains as enclosures noting the presence of an earthen bank for each and in one example, a raised central platform while in the other, a gap in the circumference of the ringwork suggesting an entrance. 

Results from recent research into a group of sites with similar field characteristics and classified as ring enclosure have suggested a much later, post-medieval date and a likely agricultural function here and in other cases. Investigating the field characteristics of this example using historic mapping and airborne laser scanning shows that it has features which identify this as a post medieval sheepfold. The southern earthwork is well defined, indicating a relatively late date, with an entrance to the southeast and evidence of a turf stripping scar. The northern example is less well preserved, probably having been disturbed by forestry activities, but retains a distinct central tump where an area of turf has been left uncut.

This evidence strongly supports a post-medieval date and an agricultural function as sheep folds. These remains are therefore a relatively common feature of post-medieval agricultural activity. They are simple turf and stone-built structures with relatively low archaeological potential. 

Contextual characteristics 

The monument (two sheepfolds) is a component of a wider hill farming system, exploiting upland improved pasture along lower ground between the Pentland Hills to the West and the Moorfoot Hills further to the East. There is a further enclosure feature to the southwest (scheduled monument SM2678). This site was originally interpreted as an enclosed cremation cemetery but again is now believed to represent a post medieval sheepfold (the feature is annotated as 'old sheepfold' on the first edition Ordnance Survey mapping for the area). The presence of other sheepfolds in the vicinity supports the interpretation that these examples are also sheepfolds.

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. 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 two 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, turf and stone construction with limited archaeological potential in the buried soil layers. 

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 part of a small group of three such enclosures and 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 number NRHE ID 50206 (accessed on 04/12/2025).

Bradford, 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