Description

The monument is the remains of an unenclosed settlement dating to between 1800 BC and AD 400. The settlement lies buried beneath the ploughsoil and is visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs.

It is represented by the remains of at least four roundhouses, ranging in diameter from at least 14m to 24m. There are also buried structures known as souterrains, some of which appear to be associated with individual roundhouses. The monument lies at about 40m OD on relatively level ground that stands immediately above the flood plain of the West Water.

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. On the S side, the scheduled area extends up to, but excludes, a post-and-wire fence. The monument was first scheduled in 1996, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

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 later prehistoric rural settlement in Scotland. It includes both roundhouses and souterrains that vary in size and form. It offers high potential to compare changing settlement form and character over time and to examine the functions of different building types. The monument's importance is enhanced by its association with the wider archaeological landscape of unenclosed settlements and ritual and funerary remains near the confluence of the West Water and the River North Esk. If this monument was to be lost or damaged, our understanding of the distribution and character of later prehistoric settlements would be diminished.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO66NW 40. The Angus Sites and Monuments Record reference is NO66NW0053.

Aerial Photographs AN3972, AN3973, AN3383, SC1013564

References

Anderson, S and Rees, R R 2006, 'The excavations of a large double-chambered souterrain at Ardownie Farm Cottages, Monifieth, Angus', Tayside Fife Archaeol Jour 12, 14-60.

McGill, C 2003, 'The excavation of a palisaded enclosure and associated structures at Ironshill East, near Inverkeilor, Angus' ,Tayside Fife Archaeol Jour 9, 14-33.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland