Description

The site comprises a single ring enclosure thought to be the remains of post-medieval sheepfold. The remains are visible as a turf-covered earthen ringwork in mature woodland, located on the southwestern end of Shaw Hill at approximately 350m above sea level. 

The enclosure is roughly circular at 12m in diameter with a break in its northern side where an entrance may have been located. LIDAR terrain modelling indicates the monument has a characteristic turf-stripping scar, highlighting part of the construction technique used here. The form of this feature is 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 site was recorded in 1962 by the Ordnance Survey when it was annotated as a cairn. When surveyors from the RCAHMS visited in 1962 it was interpreted as a ring enclosure which was later revised to an enclosure, 'possibly a sheepfold'. This feature was not included in the RCAHMS inventory of prehistoric monuments in Lanarkshire (RCAHMS 1978). The feature continues to be annotated as a cairn on current OS mapping, and is classified on the National Record of the Historic Environment as a sheepfold (possible). 

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 features which identify this as a post medieval sheepfold. The earthwork has an entrance and there is evidence of a turf stripping halo. They are relatively sharp, indicating a late date. Earlier records mention a groove around the top of the bank. This evidence strongly supports a post-medieval date and agricultural function – 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 is a component of a wider hill farming system, exploiting upland pasture below Culter Fell. 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 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 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 3300 examples of sheepfold (used to describe and enclosure for collecting, sorting and controlling sheep) recorded in the national record. Some of these will include turf or earthen bank enclosures of a similar form to this example. 

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

National Record of the Historic Environment ID 48758: https://www.trove.scot/place/48758. (accessed on 03/12/2024).

Source: Historic Environment Scotland