Description

The monument comprises the remains of an unenclosed settlement of prehistoric date that has been recorded as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs.  On the aerial photographs two roundhouses are visible as darker circular features along with an associated crescent-shaped feature. A track visible as a pair of parallel dark lines runs between the roundhouses. The monument is located in arable farmland at around 10m above sea level.

The two adjacent roundhouses are each characterised by an enclosing circular ditch feature approximately 1m wide. They are individually, approximately 12m in diameter. Archaeological investigation of similar features has revealed them as timber roundhouses of later prehistoric date. To the south southwest of these houses, there is a crescent-shaped feature which may represent the remains of an associated structure or another roundhouse. Lastly, there is a later trackway feature which overlies the roundhouses.  

The scheduled area is a circle measuring 80m in diameter. It includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it makes a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past, or has the potential to do so as a prehistoric unenclosed settlement. The monument is an important indicator of later prehistoric settlement and associated activity in southwest Scotland and is a rare survival of an unenclosed settlement in an area where enclosed or defended settlements are more common. It retains structural field characteristics in buried stratigraphic layers demonstrated by crop marks and has research potential which could significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past and specifically, information about the changing nature of settlement, agriculture, economy and population during later prehistoric period. 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk reference number CANMORE ID 79045 (accessed on 06/04/2023).

Local Authority HER/SMR Reference MDG9246 (accessed on 06/04/2023).

Wilson D R, 2000, Air Photo Interpretation for Archaeologists. Tempus, Stroud.

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/79045/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland