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. Numerous dark crescent- and disc-shaped marks indicate the locations of roundhouses, some immediately adjacent to one another but potentially representing structures of different dates. Other curvilinear cropmarks indicate the potential presence of souterrains (underground storage chambers). The monument lies at about 25m OD on a ridge of higher ground between Keilor Burn and Raesmill Burn. The monument was first scheduled in 1994, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The visible features range from about 8m to about 12m in diameter. The densest concentration lies towards the E of the area, where at least ten structures are visible. A variety of pits and smaller structures lie to the W and at least two structures can be identified to the S. Many of the houses appear to have erosional hollows in the northern or eastern parts of their interiors.

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 all electricity poles. On the SE side, the scheduled area extends up to but excludes a post-and-wire fence.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as a dense concentration of roundhouses and souterrains with high potential to make a significant addition to our knowledge and understanding of prehistoric rural settlement and economy in Scotland. The number and density of structures preserved here is rare and the dark crescent- and disc-shaped marks indicate the presence of relatively deep and robust remains, with potential to retain well-preserved structural characteristics and assemblages of artefacts and ecofacts. The monument offers high potential to compare settlement form, function and character over a long time period and its importance is enhanced by its association with the exceptionally rich, wider archaeological landscape of unenclosed settlements and enclosures in the lower Lunan Valley. 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

Other Information

RCAHMS records the monument as NO64NE 43, NO64SW 415. The Angus Sites and Monuments Record reference is NO64NE0043.

References

RCAHMS Aerial Photographs AN5501, AN5503, DP081060

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

Pollock, D 1997, 'The excavation of Iron Age buildings at Ironshill, Inverkeilor, Angus', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 127, 339-358.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland