Archaeology Notes

Event ID 724390

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/724390

NT82SW 16 from 84050 20080 to 84050 20079

(NT 84050 20080) Enclosure (NR)

OS 6" map, (1962).

The remains here are probably those of a small late medieval settlement. They comprise the wasted remains of a scooped enclosure (A on RCAHMS 1956 plan, fig.470) and of two presumably contemporary scooped hollows (B and C). All three encroach upon two earlier cultivation terraces (D and E) but have in turn been mutilated by later rig cultivation. The enclosure is irregular on plan with maxium measurements of 155' E-W by 105'. It has been surrounded by a boulder-faced rubble wall, now ruinous, and is divided by a sinuous wall into two roughly equal parts, both of which have been excavated into the hill-slope on the higher (N) side. The W part has one entrance and the E part three, but there is no direct communication between the two divisions. There are also some slight traces of walling on the ridge immediately N of the E part. One of the detached scoops (B) is oval, 57' x 40', and is partly enclosed by a ruined wall with an entrance in the SE; the other (C) is simply a circular hollow, 45' in diameter.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1947.

The major part of this possible settlement now lies in a fir plantation and forestry operations have led to further destruction of the remains. However, the RCAHMS description still generally applies.

RCAHMS plan revised. (OS surveyor [WDJ] 17 August 1960).

Visited by OS (RD) 14 June 1968.

No change; covered by dense afforestation, a more precise classification is not possible.

Visited by OS (TRG) 12 August 1976.

Not traced in dense afforestation.

Visited by OS (ISS) 19 September 1979.

Within a dense fir plantation on the moderate S-facing slope of the spur between the Lavendean and Sourhope sikes, there is a scooped enclosure which apparently overlies the E end of the contour cultivation (NT82SW 35 and NT81NW 59). Since the RCAHMS visit in 1947 (RCAHMS 1956), the enclosure has been afforested; even so, the overall shape of the site may still be distinguished although interpretation of the internal features is impaired and the cross-contour rig, observed by the RCAHMS, is barely discernible. The enclosure measures about 34m from N to S by 20m within a boulder wall. There is a prominent front scarp on the S, which is spread up to 4m in width, although the rear scarp is much slighter. There are breaks in the enclosing scarps but no obvious entrances. An internal bank sub-divides the interior into two sunken, subrectangular yard areas. There are no house-platforms visible.

Some 15m to the W of the enclosure, there is a sunken area, measuring 15m from NW to SE by 13m within banks spread up to 2.5m in width and standing up to 0.6m in height. There is a 6m wide break along the SE side. A further scooped hollow, recorded by the RCAHMS (1956), lying 22m to the SE, measures 4m in diameter.

Information from RJ Mercer (University of Edinburgh) 23 March 1987

RCAHMS MS 2598, No. 26/347