Glenquey

NN90SE 67.00 centred on 9826 0345

NN90SE 67.01 from NN 9809 0316 to NN 9750 0352 Glenquey Plantation Bank

An extensive and complex field-system, mostly bounded by a head-dyke, extends across the lower slopes on the SE flank of Glenquey Hill, from the Fanks Burn on the SW to the front of the terrace above the River Devon on the NE. The field-banks enclose both cultivated and rough ground. Two huts, a sheepfold, two small enclosures and three quarries are scattered along the hillside, within the area of the field-system.

The field-system comprises a series of subrectangular fields that has expanded along the hillside to form a continuous line of enclosures, bounded on their upslope side by a substantial earth and stone bank, which may have formed a head-dyke. This head-dyke, however, is a composite feature, not only incorporating elements of earlier enclosures in its line but also overlain by the boundaries of later enclosures and the SW side of a shelter-belt (NN90SE 67.01). This remodelling is also a feature of the other field-banks, which have been recast across the system as a whole. The overall layout of the system suggests that there may have been a primary enclosure laid out around the farmsteading of Glenquey, from which the field-system progressively extended to the NE, joining through to what may have been another early enclosure at the NE end (e.g. NN 9851 0405). Within the potentially early enclosure around Glenquey, a pair of parallel banks may have defined a trackway leading from the farmsteading to the unenclosed ground beyond the head-dyke (e.g. NN 9809 0327, NN 9791 0341). The turf footings of two small huts or pens are butted onto field-banks (NN 9842 0395, NN 9842 0413).

The fields enclose both cultivated and rough ground. Much of the lower ground has been smoothed by more recent cultivation, the extent of which corresponds roughly with that of the improved ground shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Perthshire and Clackmannanshire 1866, sheet cxxvii), but traces of rig are visible at the edges of the smooth ground. The rig is characterised by shallow, slightly curving, furrows set about 5m apart; in places the rigs have been split down their centres.

At the SW end of the field-system there is a small turf-banked enclosure (NN 9783 0326) measuring about 15m across. Four conjoined subrectangular enclosures, laid out ladder-like across the hillside, may have been a sheepfold (NN 9845 0395). Three small quarries, probably for gravel, are disposed along the leading edge of the terrace above the Glenquey Burn (NN 9835 0372, NN 9861 0412, NN 9826 0320).

Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 19 June 1998