Description

The monument comprises the remains of a settlement and ring ditch recorded as cropmarks on aerial photographs. The settlement probably dates to the Iron Age (800BC – AD400). The ring ditch may be a barrow or a roundhouse of Bronze Age (2500BC – AD800) or Iron Age date. The settlement is visible as a rectilinear ditched enclosure and the ring ditch as an oval ditched feature. The monument lies in farmland at about 30m above sea level.

The settlement is rectilinear on plan, measuring about 52m from northwest to southeast by at least 60m within a ditch about 2-3m broad. The northeastern side of the enclosure has been truncated by the railway. There is an entrance gap in the southeast side and an internal division extends from southwest to northeast for about 20m within the southern section of the settlement. A roundhouse, measuring about 7m in diameter, has been recorded in the north of the settlement. The ring ditch lies about 40m southwest of the settlement and is visible as an oval ditched feature measuring about 15m from northeast to southwest by about 18m. 

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. The scheduled area runs up to but does not include the post and wire fence at the northeast.

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 as enclosed settlement and barrow or unenclosed roundhouse of prehistoric date. It is an important indicator of later prehistoric settlement and associated activity in southern Scotland. It retains structural field characteristics in buried stratigraphic layers shown by cropmarks and has research potential which could significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past. In particular, the functional and chronological development of the enclosed settlement, and its relationship with the ring ditch is of significance for the study of the development of later prehistoric settlement and society in lowland Scotland. It is part of a wider cluster of later prehistoric sites in this area with a group of ring ditches to the north (Skateraw, ring ditches and cropmarks 300m NW of, SM4040), an enclosed settlement to the southeast (Crowhill, enclosure WNW of, SM5770) and further ring ditches and enclosures to the southwest (Thurston, enclosures and ring-ditch 600m NE of, SM5870). Together, these monuments can tell us about the nature of settlement, agriculture, economy and population during the later prehistoric period in southern Scotland and more widely. 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation

trove.scot

https://www.trove.scot/place/58809/
https://www.trove.scot/place/58807/

HER/SMR Reference

MEL1776

Source: Historic Environment Scotland