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Twenty Shilling Burn
Cairn (Period Unassigned), Clearance Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Twenty Shilling Burn
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned), Clearance Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Deil's Dyke
Canmore ID 45424
Site Number NS70NE 20
NGR NS 7968 0564
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/45424
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Sanquhar
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
NS70NE 20 7968 0564.
The RCAHMS note a group of some fifteen to twenty small cairns between 800 ft and 900 ft OD, on both sides of the Deil's Dyke (Lin 535) and close to it. Scott-Elliott, who quotes the RCAHMS as a sub- reference, describes some thirteen cairns, centred NS 797 057, 200 yds S of the Deil's Dyke and in the area between the Twenty-Shilling Burn and the one running down the slope 300 yds to the W. He notes that one cairn, 24 ft in diameter, stands on an oblong platform, 51 ft by 45 ft, levelled up from the surrounding ground, with its edge marked by large stones. No hut circles have been noted.
RCAHMS 1920, visited 1913; J Scott-Elliott 1967
NS 7968 0564. The specific example mentioned by Scott-Elliott is a turf-covered round cairn situated at the south-west end of a low natural swelling on gentle north facing slopes. It measures 10.0m in overall diameter and is a maximum of 1.1m high on the south side. It is mutilated by stone robbing on its east side, and displays no special features. The set stones around the natural 'platform' appear largely fortuitous with large stones marking the edge of a disused trackway on the south side.
Only sporadic and isolated examples of clearance cairns, typically 3-4m in sub-circular diameter and 0.5m high, were found in the area between Twentyshilling and Merk Burns. These are probably outlyers to a clearance group nearby (See NS70NE 28).
Cairn surveyed at 1:10 000.
Visited by OS (JRL) 24 April 1978
