Field Visit
Date October 1975
Event ID 710934
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/710934
Cairns, Horse Law. The heaviest spread of cairns (RCAHMS 1978 Fig. 18, Pl. 6A) occurs near the foot of the NW, W and SW slopes of Horse Law on the E side of the Westruther Burn. Situated at elevations of between about 240 m and 275 m OD, they extend over an area of gently inclined moorland measuring about 1.5 km from N to S by 250 m transversely. The overwhelming majority of the cairns appear as approximately circular stony mounds largely overgrown by peat, heather or turf; the average diameter is between 2.5 m and 3.5 m, and the height is seldom more than 0·8 m.
To simplify description, the group can be split into two sections, a convenient dividing-line being provided by a natural gully which cuts transversely across the area from E to W. The section N of the gully (031505-031500) contains a total of about 235 cairns; of these, 200 are shown on Fig. 18, but there is an additional compact cluster of at least thirty cairns situated on a fairly level piece of ground 150 m above, and to the E of, the head of the gully. Two of the round cairns (A and B) are noticeably larger than average: cairn A (031504) measures 6.1 m in diameter and 0.9 m in height and has several large boulders visible round its perimeter; cairn B (030502) is 6.7 m in diameter and 0.6 m in height.
South of the gully, the cairns are more widely dispersed and fall into four loose groupings: the first (031499-031495), containing about sixty cairns, extends from the gully almost as far as the chambered cairn NT04NW 15; the second (030493-032493), lying S and SE of the chambered cairn, has about thirty-five cairns; the third (031491-033491), comprising some forty cairns, lies a little farther S, in the vicinity of a sub-rectangular turf-walled enclosure of no great age and a modern fenced enclosure; the fourth (035493- 036492), about 130 m to the NE, contains at least forty cairns. Beyond the southern limit of cairns the ground falls gently to a boggy flat immediately N of Burngrange. Out of a total of about 175 cairns in this section, eight (C-H, J,K) measure more than 6.5 m and 0.6 m in diameter and height respectively, the greatest diameter, 8.5 m, occurring in cairns C and E, and the greatest height, 1.2 m, in cairn G. A few boulders of larger than normal size, which are lying dislodged in and around a slight depression in the top of cairn C, may be the remains of a cist of dry-stone construction reported in 1957 (Graham 1959, 19), but the heather is now so thick that excavation would be needed to make a positive identification. In addition to several turf or stone sheepfolds and other enclosures of comparatively recent date, mention should be made of two small circular enclosures (L and M), which may be contemporary with the cairns. Enclosure L (031494) is situated 100 m ESE of the chambered cairn No. I and almost in line with two circular sheepfolds. It measures 8.6 m in diameter over a wall 1.3 m thick, which is now reduced to a foundation of boulders and interrupted for what may have been an entrance on the SSE. Enclosure M (035492) is situated on the edge of the most south-easterly cluster of cairns. It measures 4'7 m in diameter over a wall 1·6 m thick, also reduced to its boulder foundation; there is a possible entrance-gap on the SSE.
RCAHMS 1978, visited October 1975.
