Normangill Rig
Cairn (Prehistoric), Cairnfield (Prehistoric), Unenclosed Platform Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Normangill Rig
Classification Cairn (Prehistoric), Cairnfield (Prehistoric), Unenclosed Platform Settlement (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Corbury Hill
Canmore ID 47402
Site Number NS92SE 25
NGR NS 9666 2152
NGR Description NS 963 217 to 971 211
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/47402
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Crawford
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
Measured Survey (8 July 1964)
RCAHMS surveyed eleven unenclosed platforms (Normangill 3) immediately NE of a road on 8 July 1964 at a scale of 1mm:1ft. The resultant plans were redrawn in ink in 1976 and were published in the County Inventory of Lanarkshire (RCAHMS 1978) as Fig. 36.
Measured Survey (23 August 1967)
RCAHMS surveyed five unenclosed platforms (Normangill 2) immediately E of a plantation on 23 August 1967 at a scale of 1mm:2ft. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink (and combined with another survey drawing) and was published in the County Inventory of Lanarkshire (RCAHMS 1978) as Fig. 35.
Field Visit (September 1976)
NS92SE 25 963 217 to 971 211
Unenclosed Platform Settlement, Normangill Rig: There are three groups of platforms ranged along the SW flank of Normangill Rig, at heights between 275m and 290m OD. Together with other examples at Mossy Dod (NS92SE 22) and Whelphill (NS92SE 24) they form an extensive complex stretching intermittently over a distance of 3km on the N side of the valley of the Midlock Water.
(1) NS 963 217: The most westerly group is situated about 740m NE of Midlock farmhouse and 35m SE of the enclosed cremation cemetery on Fall Hill (NS92SE 18). It consists of a single platform 15m in width and the ploughed-out remains of at least one other.
(2) NS 966 215: About 330m SE of '1' there is a group of at least eight platforms. The most northerly lies within a walled plantation and the remainder extend for a distance of 180m to the SE. The platforms range between 21.3m and 12.1m in width; three have been almost destroyed by cultivation and can no longer be measured with accuracy. On a terrace immediately above the platforms there is a group of at least fourteen cairns measuring up to 5.0m in diameter and standing to a height of 0.7m Stone-robbing has reduced others to a mere scatter of stones, too indefinite to plan.
(3) NS 971 211: The most easterly group is situated about 250m SE of '2', and consists of twelve platforms, ranging between 19.3m and 11.2m in width. On the edge of a slight terrace 45m to the E there is a denuded round cairn measuring 6.5m in diameter and 0.4m in height.
(See plans of '2' and '3'. The plan of '3 shows 11 platforms; the twelfth is an outlier, 100m to NW.)
RCAHMS 1978, visited September 1976.
Measured Survey (September 1976)
RCAHMS surveyed the cairnfield NE of a group of platforms (Normangill 2) c.1976 at a scale of 1:500. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink (and combined with another survey drawing) and was published in the County Inventory of Lanarkshire (RCAHMS 1978) as Fig. 35.
Publication Account (1985)
The remains of this cluster of late bronze-age timber houses are the most interesting of a series of similar groups that are concentrated in the valleys of the Camps Water, Midlock Water and Upper Clyde, most of which are to be found within about 30m of the 300m contour.
This group consists of five well-preserved platforms which would originally have supported circular timber houses; the largest lies just inside the south-east wall of the wood and is flanked by another two immediately to the east, the remaining two lie slightly lower down the hill. The platforms have been partially levelled into the slope to form an 'eyebrow' at the rear, and the excavated material had been pulled forwards in a semicircular 'apron' to form a level terrace on which the house was built The entrances to the houses normally lie at the junction of the eyebrow and apron, and at Normangill they are all situated on the south-east. Although there are many other unenclosed platform settlements in the area this is the only one to be associated with what are probably burial-cairns. These lie on a small shelf immediately to the east-north-east, and comprise about fourteen stony mounds measuring up to 5m in diameter by 0.7m in height.
The next group of unenclosed platforms lies only 250m to the east, just above the public road and by a stone sheep stell. Here, there are at least twelve platforms, and the most interesting feature of this group is the pairing of a large with a much smaller platform; two such pairs form the uppermost four houses of the group. This arrangement of houses suggests some form of functional differentiation, with the larger house possibly serving as a dwelling, while the smaller may have been used as a store.
Before leaving Normangilllook south over the Midlock Water and try and spot the group of unenclosed platforms high up on the slope opposite.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).
