House Of Dun Policies, Den Wood, Fordhouse Barrow

(NO 6658 6053) The fragment of an earthen mound, which has been almost removed by a quarry, and which may be the alleged unopened burial mound noted by Lumsden (1897). The northern portion remains 2.5m high and is c.20m overall.

Visited by OS (J L D) 24 June 1958.

Fordhouse NO 665 605 NO66SE 4

On the W side of the road that runs past Fordhouse, there is what may be a burial-mound measuring 20m in diameter and 2.5m in height. The face of an old quarry, which has destroyed the S half of the mound, reveals that, apart from a concentration of stones on the W side, the mound is composed of earth.

RCAHMS 1978, visited April 1978

(Lumsden 1897, 243)

Excavation of a multi-phase round cairn, Fordhouse Barrow at the House of Dun, Montrose. Excavation was carried out due to perceived threat from quarry erosion, rabbit warrens and tree growth.

Nineteenth-century quarrying into this mound, combined with severe rabbit and tree roots disturbance led to the excavation of the site. This fieldwork was carried out under the auspices of an NTS Thistle Camp project, using volunteers under the supervision of a team of professional archaeologists.

Cutting-back of the quarried edge revealed a complex stratigraphy. The barrow appears to have been constructed as an earthen mound some 20m diameter, overlaid by a stone 'capping' to give the appearance of a cairn. The cairn material seems to be of a number of phases, consisting of both rounded glacial boulders and angular sandstone blocks.

A large central feature was found to cut through the 'cairn' material, the earthen mound below and into the buried land surface. This feature was stone filled in its lower levels, with an earth fill above and an earth and stone cap. The compact fill and the lack of slumping in the profile of the barrow suggest that this does not represent antiquarian disturbance. The discovery of possibly cremated bone and two sherds of a Collared Urn suggest the presence of at least one burial, and further such evidence is expected in the forthcoming season.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Russell Trust, NTS, St Andrews Heritage Services.

R Peterson 1994.

NO 665 605 A round barrow lying on the northern edge of the NTS property of House of Dun. Quarrying (probably 19th century) has cut into the mound on the southern side and rabbit warrens have further disturbed the site. Excavation was carried out due to the perceived threat from erosion of this quarry and of the mound (Peterson 1994).

The monument appears to have been constructed as an earthen ring bank of c30m diameter, overlaid by a stone capping to give the appearance of a ring cairn. This appears to have been of several phases or builds, with a layer of angular sandstone blocks underlying rounded glacial boulders. The central area, approximately 6m in diameter, was then filled to give the final appearance of a mound. In the 1995 season the uppermost fills of the central feature were investigated. The final phase was an earth cap, which was subsequently revetted by the construction of a drystone wall. Underlying the earth cap was an oval stone-filled feature, below which are successive stony fills which have not been excavated. On the W side of the monument a post-medieval feature has cut through the earth cap- perhaps a trace of antiquarian disturbance.

The excavation of the cairn material was continued in the E part of the monument. numerous sherds of a Food Vessel Urn and a Collared Urn were excavated in the SE quadrant. Although these sherds were not in situ, the presence of a large number of fragments of ?cremated bone points to there being two burials.

The removal of the rounded boulder cairn over the whole monument was completed this season, leading to the discovery of two further burials in vessels. One vessel, a Collared Urn, contained the remains of an infant; the other was a Food Vessel Urn. These two secondary cremations appear to have been inserted into the upper rounded boulder cairn. The presence of a copper-alloy ring-pin of post-Roman or Viking date may indicate a long tradition of secondary burial.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, The Russell Trust, Jennie S Gordon Memorial Foundation, National Trust for Scotland.

R Peterson, R Turner and E Proudfoot 1995.

A round cairn lying on the N edge of the NTS property of House of Dun had been quarried in the 19th century; this removed the S side of the mound. Rabbit warrens and tree growth have further disturbed the site. Excavation over several seasons has been carried out because of these perceived threats (see Peterson, Turner and Proudfoot 1995). The monument is of multi-phase construction, the earliest phases of which are not yet excavated. Six phases of activity have so far been identified on the site.

Phase One. Sandy earth with the carbonised remains of timber posts in situ in several places. Probably Neolithic.

Phase Two. Circular bank of sandy earth and large sandstone blocks which surrounded a central, unembanked area. Sherds of two beakers and three arrowheads of tranchet, leaf-shaped and barbed-and-tanged type were recovered from this bank material. This phase of bank construction was interrupted on the E side by a feature interpreted as an entrance, through which the central area would have been visible. A narrow stone-filled slot ran E-W through the entrance feature and suggests a structural element, although no post-holes were found. Sherds of five Early Neolithic bowls were found in contexts disturbed by rabbit activity on the outside of this entrance.

On the N edge of the entrance were many large tabular sandstone blocks, over which a very loose and gritty yellow sand extended across the feature. This fill indicates deliberate blocking rather than gradual silting.

Phase Three. To the E of the entrance a secondary cremation burial was cut into the second phase of ring bank: a vessel of indeterminate form with no surviving outer surface was discovered amongst a considerable depth of charcoal, the remains of a large fire. A third vessel - a bipartite urn - came from a cut feature on the N edge of the ring bank and was associated with a five-pointed faience bead.

On the NE edge of the ring bank was a small undisturbed cist c 0.5 x 0.3m, containing a large amount of broken bone as well as a flint flake with a retouched edge, and a broken bone pin with an ?hourglass? perforation just below the articular end.

Phase Four. Following the construction of the second phase of ring bank, the primary filling of the entrance, and the building and use of the cist, rounded glacial boulders were deposited over the whole site, so that the mound appeared to be a cairn. The entrance had been filled by the boulder covering, and in this layer a complete inverted Collared Urn (Longworth?s primary series) with its cremation in situ was found, one of five such associated with secondary burials. Parts of a second primary series Collared Urn, and a fragmentary Food Vessel Urn were also found. A fragment of what may be a second bead (probably of a canneloid shale) was found in the fragmentary Collared Urn.

The fragmentary Collared Urn and several vessels found in the previous season were inserted into the boulder layer. An interrupted ?kerb? of three large irregular stones, which retained the boulder cairn phase of building, was found beyond the outer edge of the earthen ring bank on the NE side of the monument. This kerb seems to have respected the earlier alignment of the site and did not cross the line of the entrance. However, the kerb was found only in the NE quadrant, and whilst it may have existed in inaccessible parts of the site it might not have been more extensive or continuous.

Phases Five and Six. Two large cut features in the centre of the monument extended into the old ground surface. They contained objects of 18th-century date and disturbed prehistoric and early medieval material.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Russell Trust, Jennie S Gordon Memorial Foundation, NTS, St Andrews Heritage Services.

R Peterson and E Proudfoot 1996

NO 665 605 The excavation of the round cairn lying on the N edge of the NTS property of House of Dun was completed. The monument is of multi-phase construction (Peterson and Proudfoot 1996), the earliest phases of which were excavated during 1997.

The earliest features, probably Early Neolithic, were two parallel sets of shallow slots and three larger pits. Burnt hazelnut shells and blades of Arran pitchstone were recovered from one of the pits. This was followed by a series of discontinuous patches of pre-barrow surface. The majority of these layers appeared to represent preserved turf lines, except on the SW side of the site where there was evidence of disturbed scrub vegetation.

Perhaps also Early Neolithic in date, a 1.5m deep pit in the centre of the site was lined with drystone walling to form a passage grave (see front cover). The chamber was 2m in diameter with a 2m long passage facing W. The construction of this monument was absolutely contemporary with the first mound construction, which was made up of a number of different deposits of stone, earth and timber. The floor of the chamber produced a large quantity of very small pieces of fragmentary human bone and some flintwork, including a small scraper. After a period of use the passage was blocked; rim fragments from an Early Neolithic bowl were found in the blocking material. A large slab of rock found in the post-medieval disturbance possibly formed the capstone to the chamber; the destroyed upper walls of the chamber had been corbelled inwards to support this stone.

During the construction of the Early Bronze Age earthen ring bank, reported last year, the passage grave roof had been partly destroyed and the chamber had been filled in. Following this, parts of the upper walls either collapsed as a result of this disturbance or were deliberately destroyed. The collapsed layers were incorporated into the remodelled and enlarged mound to form the central area of the ring cairn. Further dumps of material were also added to the outside edge of the mound. These dumps overlay a number of pits containing Early Bronze Age ceramics, including a single pit containing two complete Collared Urns and an accessory vessel and another pit with a complete Food Vessel.

Further Bronze Age and later deposits have been reported previously. The passage grave has been backfilled but has been left largely intact, and may in the future be consolidated for presentation to visitors.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Russell Trust, National Trust for Scotland, St Andrews Heritage Services

R Peterson and E Proudfoot 1997

Site of excavated barrow. Roughly semi-circular sunken area (c 25.0m E-W x 20.0m N-S) on flat ground above 250. Central passage grave under black plastic with poss. Capstone nearby. Poss. remnants of kerb around perimeter.

(HOD01 248) Information from NTS (CJM) April 2014.