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Swaites Hill
Cairn (Period Unassigned), Clearance Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned), Field System (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Swaites Hill
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned), Clearance Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned), Field System (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 47646
Site Number NS94SE 17
NGR NS 954 412
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/47646
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Pettinain
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS94SE 17 954 412.
There are at least 26 cairns on and around the flattish northern summit of Swaites Hill, at about 1000ft OD, and on its NW slopes, centred at about NS 954 412.
Although the only evidence of fields is an occasional possible slight lynchet, most of the cairns are almost certainly field-clearance heaps, varying in diameter from c.3.5 to 7.0m and in height from c.0.2 to 0.5m. One, however, (A - NS 9545 4128) is almost certainly a burial cairn and three others (B - NS 9548 4122, C - NS 9549 4124 and D - NS 9549 4100) may be sepulchral. They vary in diameter from c.7.5 to 12.0m and from being a mere rim to 0.4m high.
At NS 9568 4108 there is a circular enclosure, 10.0m diameter, consisting of a turf and heather covered bank c.0.3m high, with an entrance in the SE. It may be an old sheepfold.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 26 January 1968
(A: NS 9545 4128, B: NS 9548 4122, C: NS 9549 4124) Cairns (NR)
(D: NS 9549 4100) Cairn (NR)
OS 1:10000 map (1978)
Cairn 'A' measures 12m in diameter and 0.3m in height. Cairns 'B' and 'C', 5.5m apart, measure 7.3m in diameter and about 0.3m in height. At NS 955 411, 155m SSE of 'B' and 'C', there are the last vestiges of a cairn, 9m in diameter and 0.2m in height. Cairn 'D' is not described by the RCAHMS, though it is persumably included among the other cairns, at least eighteen in number, which they note scattered here and there along the NW end of Swaites Hill, some interspersed among the cairns already described. They are all considerably smaller, measuring between 3.5m and 5.5m in diameter and from 0.3m to 0.7m in height. Because of the thick growth of heather that covers the area, these cairns, particularly the smaller ones, are difficult to see.
RCAHMS 1978, visited 1976
Field Visit (April 1976)
The rest of the cairns [on Swaites Hill] lie NW of a long wall which runs across Swaites Hill from NE to SW, marking for part of its course the boundary between the parishes of Covington and Pettinain, Because of the thick growth of heather that covers the NW end of the hill, the cairns in this area are difficult to see, particularly the small ones.
(4) Situated in a bare patch among the heather 135 m NW of the junction of the wall and a wire fence running S from it, at 955 411, there are the last vestiges of a cairn measuring 9 m in diameter and not more than 0.2 m in height.
(5) Situated 155 m NNW of (4), at NS 954 412, there is a pair of cairns, 5.5 m apart and heavily overgrown, each measuring 7.3 m in diameter and about 0.3 m in height,
(6) About 60 m further to the NNW, at NS 954 412, is a cairn measuring 12 m in diameter and 0.3 m in height.
(7) [see NS94SE 16] At NS 951 413 there are the slight remains of a cairn measuring 12 m in diameter. The centre has been almost totally removed, leaving only a low stony rim 0.5 m high,
(8) Scattered here and there along the NW end of the hill, some of them interspersed among the cairns already mentioned, there are at least another eighteen cairns, all considerably smaller, measuring between 3.5 m and 5.5 m in diameter and from 0.3 m to 0.7 m in height,
RCAHMS 1978, visited April 1976.
Archaeological Evaluation (7 April 2015 - 20 April 2015)
A programme of archaeological investigative works was carried out for Cloburn Quarry Development Ltd in respect of the quarry extension at Cloburn Quarry, Lanark, South Lanarkshire (CL/14/0140). The archaeological works were designed to determine the archaeological potential of the development area and hence inform the specification for mitigation of the impact on the archaeological remains within the development area. The works showed that previously identified structure (Canmore ID:47645) was in all likelihood a prehistoric cairn, with the presence of struck flint further supporting a prehistoric date for the feature.
Information from OASIS ID: rathmell1-205103 (D Gordon) 2015
