Description

The monument is a round cairn which dates to the Bronze Age (2500 BC to 800 BC). It is visible as a low, tree covered circular mound that is bisected by a field dyke. To the western side of the dyke the cairn has been reduced by ploughing but its extent is still discernable. The monument is situated around 55m above sea level on a low ridge that runs from north to south from Macneilie Hill.

The cairn stands approximately 2.1m in height at its highest point and measures approximately 17m in diameter. A large hollow in the top of the cairn measures approximately 5.3m in diameter and indicates where cairn material has been removed.  

The scheduled area is circular on plan, centred on the monument with a diameter of 25m and includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monuments construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.  The above-ground elements of the fence and field dyke that runs across the site are excluded from the scheduling to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The cultural significance of the monument has been assesed as follows:

Intrinsic Characteristics

On its eastern side the cairn is defined by a stony mound within Macneilie Wood. On its western side the cairn is in improved pasture and has been reduced to near ground level by past agricultural activity. Robbing or antiquarian investigation has removed also some of the cairn material, flattening the top of the monument. 

Although some cairn material has been removed and the monument is crossed by a field boundary, the cairn retains its field characteristics to a marked degree standing to around 2m in height.  There is high potential for the survival of important archaeological information within, beneath and around the cairn, including one or more graves or cist settings and human skeletal remains in the form of cremations or burials.  There is also potential for the survival of associated artefacts or grave goods such as tools, jewellery or pottery.  This monument therefore has the potential to improve our understanding of burial practice and religious beliefs, the construction and use of burial monuments, and contemporary society and the environment.

Cairns such as this are typically Bronze Age in origin, dating most commonly to between about 2500 BC and 800 BC, though it is possible that the site has earlier origins as a place of ritual or burial.  Excavations of this type of monument have demonstrated that they were often used to cover and mark human burials, for example Dunchragaig Cairn (scheduled monument reference SM90111, Canmore ID 39455).  The cairn may have been used for multiple burials, over an extended period of time, and it is likely to have been an important place of commemoration for many generations.

Contextual Characteristics

The monument may once have formed one of a pair of prehistoric cairns within the vicinity of Macneilie Hill.  A second cairn known as Inch Parks cairn (Canmore ID 60829) is recorded in antiquarian records and on early mapping, and was located approximately 440m south-southwest of Cairn Macneilie.  This second cairn was removed before modern OS mapping in the 19th century and its site is currently under plantation forestry.  Study of the location of both cairns offers potential to study burial and ritual practices and draw comparisons with evidence from other concentrations of round cairns around Dumfries and Galloway.  In addition the proximity of these monuments can give important insights into the placing of such sites in the landscape.

Bronze Age round cairns were positioned often in dominant locations in the landscape with intervisibility between prehistoric route ways, settlements and other funerary monuments.  Larger cairns were placed in prominent locations so as to be visible at a considerable distances whereas smaller cairns, such as Cairn Macneilie, appear to have been constructed within relatively localised landscapes.  This round cairn is situated on natural east-west facing ridge which runs from the south of Macneilie Hill through Hamilton Wood.  There are open views to the southwest, west and northwest over Inch Parks towards Seat Hill and Baylett.  It is likely that when the monument was in use it would also have been visible from the north to south routeway to the west of the monument, now occupied by the A751.  Views to the east of the cairn are now limited by vegetation, although before the area was under forestry the cairn would likely have been a prominent feature when viewed from the lower ground to the east, now occupied by the unnamed road from the A75 to Balker.

Associative Characteristics

According to the Ordnance Survey Name Book (OS1/35/20/12) the cairn derives its name from the memory of a man named Macneilie who was killed somewhere in the vicinity of the monument at an unknown date.  It is possible that the entry refers to Inch Parks cairn (Canmore 60829) as the Name Book also notes that by 1849 the monument had been removed to provide stone for walling.  Therefore the name may have later become associated with the current Cairn Macneilie due to their proximity.

Statement of National Importance

This monument is of national importance because as a well-preserved round cairn it has an inherent capability and potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past.  In particular it can contribute to our understanding of the design, construction and use of burial monuments in the southwest of Scotland and the nature of belief and burial practices during the Bronze Age.  Although some of the cairn material has been removed, the monument still retains its field characteristics to a marked degree.  The general form and dimensions of the cairn can still be discerned even where it has been reduced through agricultural activity.  In addition there is the potential for the survival of significant buried archaeological evidence.  The cairn is an example of a common class of Bronze Age monuments, and the significance of Cairn Macneilie is enhanced by its close proximity to other cairns, now removed, within the vicinity of Macneilie Hill.  Ritual and funerary monuments are often our main source of evidence for human activity during the Bronze Age in Scotland.  The loss of the monument would diminish our ability to understand the nature and placement of Bronze Age funerary and ceremonial monuments within the landscape of southwest Scotland. 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland reference number Canmore ID 60826 (accessed 06/10/2016).

Dumfries and Galloway Council records the site as Cairn Macneilie, Inch Parks in the Dumfries and Galloway Historic Environment Record (Reference MDG985)

Curle, A., 1911, Curle Diary No. 7, RCAHMS, p90

Ordnance Survey, 1842, Name Book: Wigtonshire vol 36, p17

Yates, M., (1984) Bronze Age round cairns in Dumfries and Galloway: an inventory and discussion, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British, Vol 132, Oxford

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/60826/

HER/SMR Reference

MDG985

Source: Historic Environment Scotland