Description

The monument comprises a group of prehistoric round barrows (burial monuments), a cluster of pits and the foundation trenches of a timber building. These features are buried beneath the plough soil and are visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs. Round barrows are characteristic of the Bronze Age, between 2500 BC and 800 BC. The timber building probably dates from between AD 400 and AD 1200. The monument lies about 35m above sea level on a ridge of relatively level ground above the Motray Water to the N. The monument was first scheduled in 1997; the scheduled area is now being amended to focus better on the archaeological remains.

Two barrows are represented by ring ditches with central pits. The ring ditches have external diameters of 9m and 5m. The larger ring ditch encircles an elongated pit that measures 2.6m x 1.1m, while the smaller ring ditch surrounds a sub-circular pit that measures 1.3m in diameter. Part of a third ring ditch indicates the presence of another barrow with a diameter of around 10m. Many of the nearby pits are elongated and measure up to 4.5m long. The building foundation is sub-rectangular and indicates a building about 5m wide and at least 12m long, aligned E-W with a rounded E end.

The scheduled area is irregular in shape on plan. The scheduling includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. On its E side the scheduled area extends up to but excludes a stone field wall. The scheduling specifically excludes a post-and-wire fence that crosses the S part of the scheduled area.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to understanding of Bronze Age funerary remains in SE Scotland. Two ring ditches have central burial pits and represent good examples of barrows in this region. Funerary cairns and barrows such as this would have been prominent and important parts of the Bronze Age landscape, potentially reinforcing concepts such as rights to land. This monument is particularly important because it forms part of a dense cluster of prehistoric settlement and funerary remains which form a multi-period archaeological landscape. Our understanding of the distribution and character of Bronze Age funerary activity, and its relationship with domestic settlements, would be diminished if this monument were lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO42SW 22.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland