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Field Visit
Date 7 July 2008 - 13 July 2008
Event ID 999948
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/999948
NS 48086 74789 229m
NS 48281 74807 242m on top of the cairn
This site is recorded in the WoSAS SMR and the NMRS and is identified as
WOSASPIN 7855 and NMRS number NS47SE 49.
The WoSAS Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) states there is an annotated map in the WoSAS SMR. This was not supplied with the SMR extract. The summary SMR details are as follows:
‘NS 482 748. Cairn. Cochno Hill. At a height of 250m OD on the S slopes of Cochno Hill there is a roughly oval mound of stones measuring 17m by 15.5m and standing to a maximum height of 1.8m (RCAHMS 1978, visited 1977) Visited by Strathclyde Archaeology Service 1994, noting the cairn is located at NS 4830 7479’ Further comments in the SMR are ‘This cairn is supposedly upstanding to a height of 1.8m, and it measures 17 x 15.5m in extent. It is oval in shape, and this might explain why it has not been securely categorised as a Bronze Age funerary monument. However,
the feature may have been later augmented by field clearance, or truncated by cultivation. If this should prove to be a prehistoric monument, then it may be undisturbed and potentially informative. It should therefore be visited to establish whether or not is possible to assess its likely date and function’.
It is the view of the 2008 survey that this is definitely a Bronze Age burial cairn. It appears to be largely undisturbed though there is some evidence on its W side that previous excavation may have taken place and the suggestion of either an excavation baulk c. 1m wide with excavation to the N and S of it or the continuation of the field boundary dyke Site 29f across it although the latter suggestion seems unlikely. The cairn itself has been incorporated into the field boundary bank system at the end of bank 29f. The cairn has possibly been robbed on its S side where the stone make up is exposed though it is also slightly eroded by sheep. The exposed stones are c.0.4m x 0.3m x 0.2m on average. It seems unlikely that it has been largely added to by field clearance as there are actually very few clearance cairns associated with the Site 29 field system and it seems most of the stones that would have been cleared from the fields have been used to construct the dykes. It is perhaps more possible that stones have been
robbed to construct the field dykes. The cairn is disturbed, but is generally intact, and the NW interior is quite deflated and may have been robbed. A possible kerb c. 0.9m wide can be traced around the N, NE and NW sides but this is tumbled and spread to c. 1.8m wide and is not clearly defined.
The cairn is tumbled and does not have clear neat edges and was measured as 18.5m N-S x 18m E-W and given its tumbled nature it is impossible to say if it oval or circular. GPS readings at the base and on the top of the cairn indicated it is 4m high at its highest point. While GPS elevations are not 100% reliable the cairn does stand higher than the previously recorded 1.8m. Although there is some disturbance and sheep erosion this cairn is largely intact and is likely to contain burial remains. There may be satellite burials represented by Sites 31, 32 and 33.
AP – The aerial photograph shows the dyke 29f continuing around or over the cairn to the west, this was not visible on the ground. In fact none of the banks to the W of Sites 30, 31 and 32 were visible except 29i and 29a. The AP also shows further circular patches of disturbance in the vicinity of the cairn and Sites 31 and 32 and suggests a small cairnfield might be present. One other bump was dismissed on the ground as not quite convincing enough but according to the AP it probably was a real feature. The AP also shows the probable kerb identified on the ground.
Firat 2008
