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Enclosed settlement, 570m NNW of Tonnachrae

A Scheduled Monument in Mid Galloway and Wigtown West, Dumfries and Galloway

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Coordinates

Latitude: 54.893 / 54°53'34"N

Longitude: -4.9171 / 4°55'1"W

OS Eastings: 213018

OS Northings: 559259

OS Grid: NX130592

Mapcode National: GBR GH7S.2G3

Mapcode Global: WH2SG.F8RS

Entry Name: Enclosed settlement, 570m NNW of Tonnachrae

Scheduled Date: 5 October 1999

Last Amended: 4 March 2024

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM7470

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: enclosure (domestic or defensive)

Location: Inch

County: Dumfries and Galloway

Electoral Ward: Mid Galloway and Wigtown West

Traditional County: Wigtownshire

Description

The monument comprises the buried remains of an enclosed settlement dating to the Iron Age (800 BC – AD 400), visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs. The enclosure is defined by an infilled ditch, with evidence of an internal palisade and a round house. The monument lies in arable farmland at around 22m above sea level.

The enclosure is oval, measuring 54m from north to south by 58m across, within an external ditch measuring approximately of 5.5m wide. There are breaks in this ditch to the east measuring 6m and to the west-southwest measuring 7m, which may be evidence of entrances. An internal ditch measuring up to 0.8m wide is likely evidence of a palisade trench. This follows the northern arc of the external ditch with breaks to the north-northeast and east-southeast. A dark area approximately 18m wide is located within the enclosure and indicates the presence of further archaeological deposits, likely the remains of a roundhouse.

The scheduled area is a circle 80m in diameter. 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 existing post and wire fencing.

 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as it makes a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past, or has the potential to do so as a prehistoric enclosed settlement. The monument is an important indicator of later prehistoric settlement and associated activity in southwest Scotland. 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
No Bibliography entries for this designation


Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/79027/


HER/SMR Reference

MDG9270

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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