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Law Of Mauldslie
Cairn(S) (Prehistoric), Cist(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Law Of Mauldslie
Classification Cairn(S) (Prehistoric), Cist(S) (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 46706
Site Number NS85SW 2
NGR NS 821 514
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/46706
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Carluke
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS85SW 2 821 514.
(NS 8213 5146) Bronze Age Cist (NR)
OS 6" map (1967)
This cist, on the highest point of Law of Mauldslie, was found on 13th July 1866. The huge irregular capstone was 2ft (0.6m) below the surface, covering the cist, which measured 3ft 4ins (1.0m) by 2ft 3ins (0.7m) and 1ft 8ins (0.5m) in depth and was aligned NE and SW. It contained a crouched inhumation accompanied by an Early Bronze Age dagger, now lost. The cist was preserved in situ, protected by an iron cage, and the capstone was seen at ground level (at NS 8213 5146) in 1954. Rankin records that 'a similar cist was found at the same place' some sixty or seventy years previously.
Other burials have been found at Law of Mauldslie; the Statistical Account (OSA, 1792) refers to an 'oval urn' with human remains being 'lately found' in the great cairn of Mauldslie Law, while quantities of ashes and burnt materials had been found when digging on top of the hill. There was more than one cairn on Mauldslie Law; urns containing human bones were found in the majority of them. They were removed in 1790 and a plantation planted; this was subsequently cleared and the land was under cultivation in 1866.
The NSA (1845) refers to several cists, containing ashes, and also 'urns', containing ashes, found at Law (NS 81 52).
D R Rankin 1870; A S Henshall 1964; 1968; J M Coles 1971
The spot at which this cist was discovered now falls within a private garden. No further information was obtained.
Visited by OS (BS) 8 June 1976
The large slab in the garden behind 11 Quarry Road, Law, which was formerly thought to be covering the cist described above, was raised during the construction of the house. Nothing was found beneath it. No additional information is given regarding the other cairns and cists. RCAHMS 1978, visited 1971.
(Bronze dagger of Ridgeway group). Flat dagger with well-defined midrib; straight heel with central rivet-notch; two rivet-holes with plug-rivets still in position; third rivet loose. Recorded length 13.3cm, recorded width 6.6cm.
Socy Antiq Scot MS. no. 634; S Gerloff 1975.
Field Visit (June 1971)
NS c.82 51. Cairns, Law of Mauldslie (Sites). There were formerly several cairns on the Law of Mauldslie, in the largest of which was found an 'urn' containing skeletal remains (Stat. Acct., viii (1793), 129; ibid. (reissue), vii (1973), 133.). Investigation of other cairns in the vicinity also revealed burials and 'urns', but all these sites were apparently destroyed in 1790 (PSAS, vii, 442).
RCAHMS 1978, visited June 1971
