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Park Knowe
Enclosure (Prehistoric), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Site Name Park Knowe
Classification Enclosure (Prehistoric), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 47512
Site Number NS93NE 9
NGR NS 9697 3660
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/47512
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Covington And Thankerton
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS93NE 9 9697 3660.
(NS 9697 3660) Enclosure (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1981).
Though Feachem calls this monument a settlement (R W Feachem 1965) or fort (R W Feachem 1963), it is classified as an enclosure by the
RCAHMS. It is situated on gently sloping ground immediately NE of the summit of Park Knowe. The visible remains comprise two banks, from 3m to 16m apart, which enclose an oval area measuring 61m from NW to SE by 49m transversely. The banks consist of a stone and earth core kerbed on both sides with a single course of stones; the banks are exceptionally thin, measuring as little as 1.2m in breadth in places, while the kerbs are unusual in that many of the stones are angular slabs set on edge. For the most part the inner kerbstones are smaller than the outer ones, but in the external kerb of the outer bank the small stones are interrupted from time to time by larger slabs. The banks are best preserved on the S, where both survive to a maximum height of 0.7m, but in many places they have been reduced almost to ground level. Stone robbing has
reboved many of the kerb-stones, leaving well-defined stone-holes or continuous robber-trenches, while on the SE the inner bank has been practically destroyed by ploughing, leaving only a low, spread mound. There are two entrances, on the ESE and WNW respectively, but the gaps in the two banks are not sited precisely opposite one another in either case.
In view of the slightness of the banks, the monument cannot be classed as a fort, and although Iron Age settlements with banks which are not much more substantial than those at this site exist in Peeblesshire, there are no traces of houses in the N half of its interior which, unlike the S half, shows no signs of rig and furrow cultivation. Moreover, in the 18th century the interior is reported (OSA 1791) to have contained "a large mound of earth". There is no indication of this mound at the present time, and if it ever existed it was presumably levelled when ploughing encroached upon the site. (RCAHMS 1978).
RCAHMS 1978, visited 1976.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS(RD) 5 February 1968.
This work, generally as described, may possibly be of a funerary or ritual origin so the enclosure classification is most suitable. A notable feature, particularly of the outer bank, is the constructional use of varying length straights.
Visited by OS(JRL) 8 February 1979.
