Description

The monument is the remains of an enclosed settlement and a ring ditch house, both dating probably from the later Bronze Age or Iron Age (between 1200 BC and AD 400). The settlement and house are visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs. The NW quadrant of a single-ditched oval-shaped enclosure is visible. The surviving portion measures 60m N-S by 60m transversely, but it is truncated by a road at the S end, and a field boundary along its E side. A linear ditch runs E-W across the interior and may represent a contemporary internal subdivision. The ring ditch house lies 50m N of the enclosure. It is approximately 20m in diameter, with an E-facing entrance, and a circular feature is visible in the interior. A small circular enclosure, measuring 6m N-S, is positioned adjacent to the ring ditch house on its N side. The monument lies within a low-lying valley 3km SE of Haddington, at a height of c 70m OD, directly adjacent to the W bank of the Bearford Burn. The monument was first scheduled in 1994, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include 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. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of telegraph poles and post-and-wire fences.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of late Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement in East Lothian and SE Scotland. The monument preserves buried evidence of different types of settlement, one enclosed and the other unenclosed, in close proximity, with high potential for the preservation of internal features and deposits which can significantly enhance our knowledge of the basis and nature of later prehistoric settlement in SE Scotland. It is one of a number of prehistoric settlements along the banks of the Bearford Burn in a valley SE of Haddington. This string of settlements adjacent to the burn would have formed a visible component of the early prehistoric agricultural landscape. The importance of this group of settlements is enhanced by its location within a wider concentration of prehistoric settlement monuments across E Lothian, some now excavated, that allow the use of the local landscape to be charted from the Neolithic through to the late Iron Age. Our understanding of the distribution and character of late Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT57SW 49 (enclosure) and NT57SW 48 (ring ditch).

Source: Historic Environment Scotland