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Latitude: 56.8956 / 56°53'44"N
Longitude: -2.5919 / 2°35'30"W
OS Eastings: 364040
OS Northings: 778407
OS Grid: NO640784
Mapcode National: GBR WZ.MM7X
Mapcode Global: WH8QJ.5Y03
Entry Name: Kincardine Deer Dyke and settlements N of Burn of Garrol
Scheduled Date: 3 March 1999
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM7882
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: hut circle, roundhouse; Secular: linear earthwork, dyke
Location: Fordoun
County: Aberdeenshire
Electoral Ward: Mearns
Traditional County: Kincardineshire
The monument comprises the south-western portion of the boundary of the Deer Park created by William the Lion (1165-1214) and extended by Alexander III in 1266. The boundary of this park falls into two parts, the main pale and a northerly extension; this part of the scheduling includes only the main pale. The bank averages 4.5m wide and up to 1.5m high with an internal ditch some 2m to 3.5m in width and 0.6m deep.
The N extension to this park, which may represent the work of Alexander III, leaves the main pale close to the break in the N side of the park. This additional pale runs NNE across one tributary of the Back Burn of Arnbarrow, but at another tributary of that burn a gap has been left in the pale.
The leasing of the park in the 14th century is represented by a number of settlements, and one these forms part of this monument: it comprises two rectangular buildings, small yards and an area of rig and furrow. There are also the remains of a prehistoric settlement - two hut circles and field clearance cairns. There are three discrete areas to be scheduled. The southernmost is quite distant from the other two areas, and measures a maximum of 20m across and 130m long.
The central, largest, area has a complex shape, following the course of the Dyke, with a running length of over 3000m: it measures between 15m and 45m wide for most of its length but expands to a maximum of 400m NW-SE by 450m SW-NE to include the settlement and cultivation remains.
The north-eastern area measures a maximum of 35m across and is 315m long. All areas are as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance as part of the best-preserved Deer Dyke in Scotland. It has the potential to enhance considerably our understanding of the construction and use of these enclosures. The monument is of particular importance because of the inclusion of the later settlement, which documents the abandonment of the enclosure in the later medieval period. The hut circles and associated cultivation remains are a rare survival to the south of the Mounth.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCHAMS reord the monument as NO 67 NE 10
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments