Kirkleys, Langknowe

NS80SE 3 8715 0272.

(NS 8715 0272) Ancient Earthwork (NAT)

OS 6" map (1957)

The name "Kirkleys" applies to a slight rising ground on Drumcruil farm; there is a "camp" on its summit (Name Book 1857). A Middle Bronze Age flanged axe (Coles' Class III) from here, which was in Thornhill Museum in 1876, was transferred to Dumfries Museum in 1965.

The earthwork (R W Feachem 1956) has been much cultivated; its plan was still traceable in 1912, when it was described as quadrilateral with rounded angles, with a considerable curviture on the S front. It measures 150ft N-S within a ditch clearly indicated on the E by a hollow, along which rushes are sprouting; at the N end, it is 33ft wide and 4ft deep. The ditch is very indistinct on the N side while on the W is a very slightly defined terrace.

C T Ramage 1876; J Anderson and G F Black 1888; J M Coles 1966; A E Truckell 1966; RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912

The ploughed-down remains of this 'D'-shaped earthwork are situated at 660ft OD on the highest point of a flat- topped ridge. Measuring overall 80.0m N-S by 70.0m, its south side is best preserved, with a 10.0m wide and 1.5m deep ditch which has vestiges of an inner bank and a broad, though slight, counterscarp.

On the W side, this ditch is evident only as vegetation mark on a 2.5m wide terrace with a 1.2m high inner scarp cut into the natural slope. The E side has a 3.5m wide shallow ditch (0.3m deep) with a broad upcast bank on the outside. There is a causeway in the SE corner but this could be fortuitous.

The northern end of the work is delineated by a slight curvilinear scarp and faint ditch which is on a higher level than its neighbours and does not appear to join either; in fact the western terrace extends beyond this ditch-line to fade into the natural slopes. The interior is undulating and there is no evidence of stonework.

The ditches on the S, N and E sides are of such differing character that they are possibly not contemporary so a multi-phased or unfinished work is suggested.

Its ridge-top position is not strong defensively which indicates that it is a settlement, probably of Iron Age origin.

Surveyed at 1/2500

Visible on air photograph.

Visited by OS (BS) 17 March 1978.

(Flanged axe of Kirkless type, provenanced as Kirkless). Single find. Flanged axe, sandy, black, notched flanges, slope stop, cutting edge hammered, thick butt (4mm). Length 122mm, butt 22mm, cutting edge 49mm, weight 340 gms. Dumfries Museum, Glasgow (1965.677).

P K Schmidt and C B Burgess 1981.

The exact location and circumstances of discovery of the axe are unknown; there is no indication that it was coeval with the settlement.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 21 March 1990.