Description

The monument comprises the remains of an enclosed scooped settlement, dating probably from the late 1st millennium BC or early 1st millennium AD, and some later buildings potentially of medieval date. These features survive as a series of earthworks.

The monument lies at a height of between 210-230m OD, on a steep E-facing slope overlooking the Kale Water. It comprises an oval enclosure which is dug into the hillslope on the W side, terraced out over the slope on the E side, and enclosed by a stony rampart. The rampart survives to varying degrees around its circuit but is up to 2m wide and stands up to 1.5m high in its best preserved sections.

The rampart encloses an area about 54m N-S by 42m transversely. The enclosure contains the remains of at least one hut circle (a circular stone-walled building of later prehistoric date), three later buildings, and several stony banks and scooped yards. The hut circle measures about 4.5m in diameter, within a stony bank some 1.4m thick and 0.6m high, with a possible entrance on the NE side. It is overlain on its N side by a modern stone dyke.

The three later buildings are sub-rectangular and overlie the enclosure rampart on the N, E and SE respectively. The largest building measures 12m ESE-WNW by 4m transversely, within a faced rubble wall 1.2m thick and standing up to 0.5m high. The WNW end of the building is rounded while the ESE end is squared. There is an entrance in the centre of the SSW side and a possible internal partition wall.

The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is irregular on plan with maximum dimensions of 105m NNE-SSW by 65m transversely, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of later prehistoric settlement, architecture, economy, land use and social organisation. Its importance is enhanced by the presence of later buildings on the same site, potentially of medieval date.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT 71 NE 19.

Reference:

RCAHMS (1956) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Roxburghshire: with the fourteenth report of the Commission, 2v, Edinburgh, 174, No. 313.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland