Newbarns Loch
Burial Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned), Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Crannog (Period Unassigned)(Possible), Cremation Pit(S) (Bronze Age)(Possible), Cremation Pit(S) (Prehistoric), Cremation Pit(S) (Bronze Age), Field Drain(S) (Medieval), Barbed And Tanged Arrowhead(S) (Bronze Age)
Site Name Newbarns Loch
Classification Burial Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned), Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Crannog (Period Unassigned)(Possible), Cremation Pit(S) (Bronze Age)(Possible), Cremation Pit(S) (Prehistoric), Cremation Pit(S) (Bronze Age), Field Drain(S) (Medieval), Barbed And Tanged Arrowhead(S) (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 239589
Site Number NX85SE 33
NGR NX 8815 5489
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/239589
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Colvend And Southwick
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Stewartry
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
NX85SE 33 8815 5489
NX 8815 5489 Drainage operations in what was formerly the S end of Newbarns Loch yielded evidence of a circular peat-covered platform with a number of granite boulders on the top. At the invitation of the landowner this feature was investigated.
The near-circular feature of 30m diameter was divided into quadrants and this season the NE section was examined. The peat was stripped off to reveal a platform base comprising local small granite boulders intermixed with a few sandstone (greywacke) boulders. All are well rounded and have been sorted in size. A layer of small pebbles and gravel had been laid underneath. This platform has been surmounted by layers of much larger granite and a few sandstone boulders, two of the granite ones exceeding 4m in length. These latter stones both exhibit evidence of 'feathering', and fragments of broken iron feathers were found in their immediate vicinity. Records point to some stone from this site having been removed to build a nearby house in the late 19th century.
Amongst the stones of the platform base, a large saddle quern was excavated, as were two flint flakes of local beach flint-pebble material. A number of snapped stone tools were also found including a rubbing stone, whetstone and two polishers. Controlled metal detecting in the immediate vicinity of the feature, within the confines of the former loch area, yielded a bronze pony bell and three iron ingots.
Sponsor: Dumfries and Galloway Council Community Fund.
E J Penman and A Penman 2002
NX 8815 5489 A second season of investigation, by volunteers and students, has continued into a circular stone platform discovered in the drained southern end of Newbarns Loch (DES 2002, 28).
A series of seven sondages were sunk through the peat in the quadrant running from the N to the NE of the feature. These exposed a kerb of larger stones revetting the smaller boulders of associated cairn material. The turf layer covering the SW quadrant of the cairn was then removed to expose the stonework of large and medium-sized granite and sandstone boulders, as well as earlier loch bottom deposits on which the feature had been constructed.
The loch appears to have been drained in Neolithic times and a cairn constructed either for burial purposes or to serve as a territorial marker - perhaps both. Stone robbing of the larger megaliths in the 19th century has removed most of the evidence for the original function of this monument. Artefacts recovered from the boulder surface of the cairn include stone hammers, rubbers and polishers, and a number of flint tools.
Later occupation, presumably after the cairn had again been surrounded by the rising water level of the loch water during the 1st millennium BC, is represented by a number of post-holes of varying sizes, most of them packed by small boulders. Some of these posts were whole tree trunks of varying diameters.
The clay bases of three parallel features, all 9m apart, were found running NE-SW across the cairn, and it has been suggested that these may be the founds of later low walls constructed to support timbers for a floor, perhaps to accommodate quarters for domestic animals.
Examination of the area between the cairn and the eastern shore of the loch indicates the presence of a causeway or paved entrance onto the cairn.
A survey of the area surrounding the cairn was also carried out.
Sponsors: Dumfries and Galloway Council, Stewartry Museum, Leader+, Solway Heritage, Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board.
E Penman and A Penman 2003
Excavation (2008)
This the 7th season of excavation by volunteer diggers and students of the Stewartry Archaeological Trust took place in 2008. Previous work has been reported in DES 2003, 44; 2005, 42; DES 2006, 48; DES 2007, 60.
NX 8810 5485 – South Cairn A 1.5m wide sondage was dug into the NW perimeter of the cairn and continued
north-eastwards for 5.50m. The cairn was constructed of a thin layer of boulder clay, laid down as the cairn base, in the southern shallow end of Newbarns Loch. The clay was overlain by a 0.60m thick layer of aggregate and a further thin layer of clay had been deposited over the aggregate before the insertion of the cairn’s boulders. In the SE and SW quadrants of the cairn a further nine possible Bronze Age cremation burial capstones were lifted, five of which concealed possible cremation pits. Due to the poor weather conditions during most of the season these have not, as yet, been subject to detailed examination.
NX 8812 5505 – North Cairn By the end of the season one Neolithic Passage Grave, four Early Bronze Age cremation burials set into full-size boat-shaped pits, and 30 later cremation burial pits, some containing two interments and all containing stone tools of some sort, had been recorded. Most were covered by flat-topped capstones ranging from a few pounds to several tons in weight. The early Bronze Age burials were dated by the presence of a flint barbed and tanged arrowhead in one of the cremation deposit depressions.
The burial levels had been covered by medieval cobbled floors, identified and dated by artefacts recovered from
their surfaces. Further evidence of medieval occupation was indicated by the presence of a series of channels which had been dug down into the earlier levels and then roughly backfilled with shale and granite boulders. These cross the southern half of the cairn and are aligned SE/NW. They may have been connected with some early medieval industrial work such as bleaching or tanning.
A 15m diameter satellite cairn immediately next to the E of the N cairn is in the process of excavation and is the site of several more Early Bronze Age cremation burials. With the aid of a JCB several huge capstones were lifted and moved. A burial beneath one of these yielded another barbed and tanged arrowhead of the period 2150–1800 BC. Unfortunately the very wet weather prevented further examination of this cairn.
Funder: Council for British Archaeology and Dr Donna Moore
Elizabeth Penman and Alastair Penman (Stewartry Archaeological Trust), 2008
Excavation (2014)
NX 8810 5485 A thirteenth season of excavation by volunteer diggers has continued in 2014. This was the first season since 2008 that the water table and surrounding drained areas of the ancient Barnhourie Loch allowed access to the remains of the cairn. Previous work has been reported in DES 2003, 44; 2005, 42; 2006, 48; 2007, 60; 2008, 51; 2009, 54–5; 2010, 52; 2011, 59; 2012, 56–7; 2013, 60.
As this was the first dry season for a number of years it was decided to excavate only the South Cairn and the first thing to be looked at was the medieval field drainage system. This stretches from the drained field system overlying the previously drained loch, which surrounds the cairn from time to time. Three drains were constructed across the cairn from NE–SW in three parallel lines. A date of cAD1200–1300 was arrived at by measuring the depth of peat which had been disturbed by spadework during the digging of a channel to the N of the cairn.
The drains consisted of a channel lined with flat faced stones of granite and shale (mainly shale) and these were covered by granite capstones. The capstones were covered by a layer of smaller stones, mixed with boulder clay from the loch bottom, and this was overlain by another layer of clay on top.
The reason for draining the cairn has not been determined; however, some authorities who have seen the features have put forward a supposition that the cairn may have been used for the cultivation of various herbs and grasses, which would have been beneficial in the production of medicaments for sheep. The project is aware that there were thousands of sheep being grazed at Newbarns and in the neighbouring parish of
Kirkgunzeon in the 12th and 13th centuries under the auspices of the Church.
Three previously excavated burials, which had been examined in the past in poor weather conditions as the water table rose, were re-excavated. One, dating to the Early Bronze Age, exhibited very careful cobbling and the placing of a huge capstone of several tonnes the remnants of which lay around the perimeter of the burial pit. These had been destroyed by later robbing and still bore the marks of the Victorian builders method of splitting the stone (feathering). Two other burials, previously incompletely excavated due to flooding, were reinvestigated. Only one of these yielded further evidence of having had a tea-cup sized cremation pit inserted into the base of the original burial. No datable evidence was found.
Five new burials were identified and excavated. All contained at least one cremation pit and two contained votive deposits in the form of a flint tool in one and a stone hammer with striations on it in another. These burials had a headstone at either end and it is presumed that when completed there
would have been a covering of granite and shale boulders in the form of a mound, since robbed, between the two headstones.
Dating of those burials was not easy, but they would appear to be somewhere in the Iron Age (possibly c600–500 BC), as a huge saddle quern was placed adjacent to the perimeter one of the pits and this may have some as yet undermined ritualistic relevance. We are aware that this type of household implement was virtually redundant by the above mentioned date.
Only one feature remained to be totally excavated when the weather finally broke and that was a large perimeter burial in the SW quadrant of the cairn. Excavation got as far as uncovering the upper layer of a cremation pit sited on a cobble and clay platform in the NE corner of the burial pit. The huge capstone of several tonnes weight, when dragged aside, had preserved much of this feature, but the wet weather dictated that further excavation could not be carried out.
Archive: The Stewartry Museum
Funder: Lt Gen Sir Norman and Lady Jillian Arthur, Mrs Margaret Powell, Hamish McCrae Esq, Dr Donna Moore and Mrs Jane Elvy
Lizzie and Alastair Penman - The Stewartry Archaeological Trust
(Source: DES)
