Pitroddie

NO22SW 44 centred 218 249

See also NO22SW 68.

Extends onto map sheet NO22NW.

Five separate souterrains - two of them of complex plan and one extending for almost 60m in length - as well as about twelve ring-ditch houses and what may be three barrows, are visible on air photographs.

G S Maxwell 1987

An extensive settlement of timber round-houses and souterrains has been recorded by aerial photography in the fields around Pitroddie. The cropmarks fall into three separate clusters, each accompanied by a scatter of outlying features.

The southernmost cluster of markings (NO 2182 2484) lies to the SE of the public road, and comprises a complex souterrain, with traces of several crescentic marks, an enclosure and a ring-ditch lying to the N. At least five passages can be detected in the souterrain complex, their wallheads picked out by the pattern of parching evident in some of the photographs. At the core of the complex, a passage curls tightly away from a diffuse macula. Within its arc, there are traces of what is probably a second passage or an elongated chamber, which may well open off it, while another two appear to spring from the outer wall of the first on the W; parallel to the larger of these, but extending for as much as 40m to the SW, there is a fifth passage, although, possibly linked by a doorway, but with independent entrances at opposite ends. Two shadowy crescentic features immediately to the N probably mark the positions of round-houses, while traces of an enclosure measuring about 30m in diameter internally can be detected on some of the photographs a further 20m to the N. About 80m to the WNW of the souterrain there is also a small ring-ditch measuring 4m in internal diameter.

The second cluster of markings (NO 2173 2494) lies to the NW of the public road, and is also centred on a complex souterrain. Again the wallheads of two passages can be identified, but in this case the body of what appears to be the main passage is broken by a series of transverse marks which are almost certainly caused by roofing slabs that still remain in situ. A third souterrain-like cropmark lies immediately to the E, and the NW side of the complex is flanked by at least three disc-shaped cropmarks. Two more discs lie 40m to the NW, and another more complex solid mark 100m to the SW. There is also a possible ring-ditch between the latter and the souterrain complex.

The third, and northernmost cluster of markings (NO 2173 2523, OS 1:10,000 map sheet NO22NW) lies in the field to the N of the Pitroddie Burn. The most prominent features are a series of at least four solid, oval marks, set in a row roughly parallel to the public road. To the W, however, there are traces of a cluster of ring-ditches, some of which overlap; they range from 8m to 18m in diameter over all, at least four of them extending the arcs of crescentic features and presumably marking the line of the foundation trench for a timber wall. Several pits are scattered amongst these structures, including four in a square setting. Between the ring-ditches and the row of solid marks there is a broad linear feature, which tapers towards both ends; it does not appear to be the remains of a souterrain, but its character is uncertain. To the S, however, on the edge of the natural scoop overlooking the Pitroddie Burn, there is a curving mark which is almost certainly a souterrain.

Information from RCAHMS (SH) 10 February 1994.

NO 21775 24943 A watching brief was kept on 16 October 2014 during the excavation of a trench for a new pole on an overhead power line within a scheduled monument (SAM7220) containing a complex of late prehistoric features. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered in the trench. Funder: SSE

John Lewis (Scotia Archaeology) 2014.