Description

The monument comprises two adjacent enclosed settlements dating to the Iron Age (800 BC – AD 400), visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs. The first is to the north of the site and is visible as a C-shaped cropmark with an entrance to the southwest. The second is oval shaped with an entrance to the south southwest and with evidence so a roundhouse in its interior. The monument is located in arable farmland at around 35m above sea level. 

The larger settlement is visible as a C-shaped ditch approximately up to 3.5m wide. The settlement measured around 65m across. This ditch may have contained two close set palisades or been partially filled in with stones. To the southwest a break in the ditch 1.8m wide which may be the entrance. The second settlement is smaller and is located to the southeast of the larger enclosure. It measures 28m from northwest to southeast by 26m across, within a ditch about 1m wide. The entrance is likely to have been on the south. Within this settlement is a roundhouse measuring 13m in diameter with an entrance to the north-northeast. 

The scheduled area is irregular. It includes the remains described above and an area around within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. It excludes all above ground elements of the current telephone pole and post and wire fencing to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The national importance of the monument is demonstrated in the following way(s) (see Designations Policy and Selection Guidance, Annex 1, para 17):

a.  The monument is of national importance because it makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the past as two enclosed settlements dating from the Bronze to Iron Age. In particular, it adds to our understanding of later prehistoric society in southwest Scotland and the function, use and development of such settlements.

b.   The monument retains physical attributes which make a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past. In particular, there is high potential for the survival of buried archaeological deposits. Although no features survive above the ground, the overall plan of the sites are clear and understandable through cropmarks identified through aerial photography. The monument can significantly add to our understanding of domestic settlement, society, agriculture and economy during the Bronze to Iron Age.

e.   The monument has research potential which could significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past. In particular, it could tell us about the relationship between the enclosures, the development of the settlement and how their function may have changed overtime.

f.   The monument makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the prehistoric landscape such as the settlement organisation, patterns and distribution. The monument can be studied alongside other prehistoric sites to understand the development of settlements over time.

Assessment of Cultural Significance

This statement of national importance has been informed by the following assessment of cultural significance:

Intrinsic characteristics (how the remains of a site or place contribute to our knowledge of the past)

This monument has been recorded as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs and survives as buried deposits below the ploughsoil. It comprises two enclosed settlements dating from the Bronze Age (2,500 BC – 800BC) to the Iron Age (800 BC – AD 400). The larger enclosed settlement is visible as a C-shaped ditch with a possible entrance to the southwest. The ditch is likely to be the remains of a palisade; a barrier constructed of one or more rows of closely-spaced vertical timbers embedded in a narrow foundation trench. This palisade is likely to have helped control the movement of people and animals into the settlement as well as provided some level of defence or demonstration of social status. The second settlement sits to the southeast and is also defined by a ditch which is also likely to have held a palisade. In the interior of the enclosure there is evidence of the remains of a large roundhouse. Roundhouses were prehistoric houses, that were commonly constructed throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Archaeological monuments often contain features that are not visible in aerial photographs and can have well preserved stratified layers of archaeological deposits. Similar settlements have been shown to have multiple phases of activity and occupation. For example, the excavation of a roundhouse and palisaded enclosure identified through aerial photography at Aird Quarry, Castle Kennedy, Dumfries and Galloway (Canmore ID60767) recovered charcoal and burnt bone for radiocarbon dating. This dated most features to the Late Bronze Age, however, a spread of dates were identified which ranged from the Neolithic/Early Bronze Age to Middle Iron Age. Two cremation burials were also discovered in the fill of Late Bronze Age post holes. Artefacts such as fragments of prehistoric pottery and Bronze Age stone tools were also found (Cook 2006).

There is therefore potential for the survival of archaeological features and deposits at the monument, including occupation and abandonment debris, artefacts and environmental remains such as charcoal within the within the ditches. There is also the potential for the discovery of human remains. This can tell us about the function and date of the features, their relationship to each other and how the use of the monument may have changed over time and contribute to our understanding of the development sequence of this site and contribute to our understanding of life in later prehistoric Dumfries and Galloway.

Contextual characteristics (how a site or place relates to its surroundings and/or to our existing knowledge of the past)

The monument is located in arable farmland at around 35m above sea level and approximately 60m north of the Kirclachie Burn. The monument is part of a wider group of broadly contemporary enclosed prehistoric settlements in the area such as: Craigcaffie, rectilinear enclosure (Canmore ID 60768; 410m west); Craigcaffie, enclosures (Canmore ID 142971; 490m north-northwest); Innermessan settlement with enclosure and roundhouses (Canmore ID 142977; 565m southwest) and Dalminnoch, enclosure (Canmore ID 60828; 940 northwest). The findspot of a flat bronze axehead close to the monument (Canmore ID 60779; 360m northwest) provides datable evidence of Bronze Age activity in the immediate area.

Study of the monument's form and construction techniques compared with other enclosures would enhance our understanding of the development sequence of this site. There is the potential to study the enclosed settlements which comprise the monument in relation to each other to establish their development over time and, if contemporary, how they interacted. There is the opportunity to study the monument within the local context and wider Scotland to better understand its place in wider society, choice of settlement organisation, patterns and distribution as well as landuse over time.

Associative characteristics (how a site or place relates to people, events, and/or historic and social movements)

We are unaware of any associative characteristics that contribute to the monument's national importance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk reference number CANMORE ID 80292; 80291(accessed on 12/04/2023).

Local Authority HER/SMR Reference MDG5189; MDG5190 (accessed on 19/10/2023).

Cook, M. (2006) 'Excavations of a Bronze Age roundhouse and associated palisade enclosure at Aird Quarry, Castle Kennedy, Dumfries And Galloway' in Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Dumfries. Council of the Society. (Available at: https://dgnhas.org.uk/sites/default/files/transactions/3080.pdf#page=14) (Accessed on: 08/11/2023)

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/80292/
https://canmore.org.uk/site/80291/

HER/SMR Reference

MDG5189
MDG5190

Source: Historic Environment Scotland