Description

The monument is the remains of a prehistoric settlement enclosure dating probably to between 1200 BC and AD 400. The settlement lies buried beneath the plough soil and is visible as a cropmark captured on oblique aerial photographs. The cropmark shows that the enclosure is roughly circular on plan and measures 37m N-S by 28m transversely. A single ditch 2m wide is broken by a wide gap on the W side and a smaller gap on the E side; the gap on the E side may be an entrance. The monument occupies an area of gently sloping ground on the coastal plain above Port Seton at around 80m OD. The monument was first scheduled in 1978, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan. It measures 70m in diameter and is centred on the middle of the enclosure, 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 above-ground elements of telegraph poles within the scheduled area are specifically excluded to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to knowledge and understanding of rural settlement in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. It retains evidence of a substantial single ditch and is a good example of the many prehistoric curvilinear enclosures situated on the E Lothian coastal plan. Researchers have suggested that circular enclosed settlements such as this may have originated in the Late Bronze Age and been used or re-used into the later Iron Age. The monument's importance is enhanced by its association with the wider landscape of enclosed settlements on this part of the coastal plain, extending SE as far as Doon Hill. This landscape forms one of the most important concentrations of evidence for social and economic change in southern Scotland in the first millennia BC and AD. Our understanding of the distribution and character of later prehistoric settlements would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT47SW 16. The site has been recorded from the air in 1977, 1989, 1993, 1996 and 2000.

References

Haselgrove, C 2009, Traprain Law Environs Project, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monogr Ser: Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland