Description

The monument is a later prehistoric settlement dating to between 1800 BC and AD 400, together with a round barrow built before AD 700. The remains lie buried beneath the ploughsoil and are visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs. The monument lies 200m SSW of Red Castle, 20m above sea level, on relatively flat ground immediately above Lunan Bay to the E.

A large C-shaped souterrain about 25m long lies towards the E of the scheduled area. A short distance to the W is a similar feature representing another souterrain or a roundhouse, and another souterrain lies a further 60m to the WNW. At least three dark crescent-shaped marks suggest the positions of large roundhouses each at least 15m in diameter. A round barrow with central pit lies about 60m SSW of the first souterrain and other less distinct cropmarks suggest the presence of additional barrows and structures. The monument lies on the NE fringe of the dense landscape of prehistoric settlements and barrows around the modern farms of Ironshill and Newbarns.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan as shown in red on the accompanying map. It includes 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. On the N and NE sides, 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 add to our understanding of souterrains and burials beneath barrows. The survival of a barrow, souterrains and probable roundhouses in close proximity is rare and suggests the site is a long-lived focal point in the landscape. The importance of the monument is underlined by the important results of the excavated barrow cemetery that lay immediately to the E and by its place in the wider landscape of prehistoric settlement in the lower Lunan Valley. Our understanding of later prehistoric and early historic social and economic organisation and burial practices would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO65SE 18, 19. The Angus Sites and Monuments Record reference is NO65SE0018.

References

RCAHMS Aerial Photographs AN2901, C46789, C46790

Alexander, D, 2005 'Redcastle, Lunan Bay, Angus: the excavation of an Iron Age timber-lined souterrain and a Pictish barrow cemetery', PSAS 135, 41-118.

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland