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Brownsbank

Ditch (Period Unassigned), Enclosure (Period Unassigned), Mortuary Enclosure (Neolithic)(Possible)

Site Name Brownsbank

Classification Ditch (Period Unassigned), Enclosure (Period Unassigned), Mortuary Enclosure (Neolithic)(Possible)

Canmore ID 48959

Site Number NT04SE 8

NGR NT 07413 42835

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/48959

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council South Lanarkshire
  • Parish Biggar
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Clydesdale
  • Former County Lanarkshire

Archaeology Notes

NT04SE 8 07413 42835

(NT 0741 4283) Enclosure (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10000 map (1981)

Enclosure, Brownsbank 2: A wasted enclosure, first detected from shadow-marks on air photographs (543/RAF/2042/F22: 0126-7), is situated on a shoulder of arable ground which projects from the lower W slopes Broomy Law 780m NNW of Brownsbank farmhouse.

Roughly sub-rectangular on plan, it measures approximately 12m from NE to SW by 7.5m transversely within a single bank 4m in thickness, which now stands only 0.2m above the level of the interior. The bank is accompanied by intermittent traces of an external ditch which, when sectioned by the RCAHMS, proved to be flat-bottomed, measuring 1.9m wide and 0.6m deep, with vertical sides; it was separated from the bank by a berm 1.5m wide. A curious feature was the presence in the bottom of post-holes which had held upright timbers set against both vertical faces of the ditch. Two small fragments of coarse hand made pottery which were recovered from topsoil in the course of excavation, while not closely datable, bear a marked resemblance to certain Iron Age wares of the Tyne-Forth Province.

RCAHMS 1978, visited 1975

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (DWR) 10 August 1971.

This possible mortuary enclosure is plotted on a distribution map of Neolithic monuments covering southern Scotland (RCAHMS 1997).

Information from RCAHMS (ARG), 6 May 1998.

Excavation; geophysical survey NT 0741 4283 Remnants of a sub-rectangular enclosure were recorded as an earthwork (NT04SE 8) during the preparation of the RCAHMS South Lanarkshire inventory (1978) and were subject to an inconclusive trial excavation at that time, discovering only some fragments of putative Iron Age pottery and an unusual

ditch. Subsequently, the enclosure has been ploughed flat, but was recorded on oblique aerial photographs as a cropmark in 1992. The cropmark enclosure measures c 25 x 15m and there appears to be a setting of six pits or posts in the central area, with an entrance gap on the NNW side. It has since been interpreted as a possible Neolithic mortuary enclosure, purely on morphological grounds. Fieldwalking and excavation in the field immediately to the E has

revealed traces of Neolithic settlement (e.g. DES 2001, 90).

Trial excavation was undertaken as part of the University of Glasgow's Clyde Valley Field School in August 2005, as well as an extensive geophysical survey in the surrounding field. A small trench established that the enclosure was defined by a ditch, now severely plough-truncated, with multiple causeways along its length. Only slight traces of an internal bank were noted. One of the internal pit features was located and found to be a post-hole with stone packing. There was little indication of the date of the enclosure, although a sherd of possible later prehistoric pottery was recovered from the base of the ditch. A number of geophysical anomalies were recorded in the field, and they, along with more of the enclosure, will be subject to further examination in 2006.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: University of Glasgow.

K Brophy, B Hanson and L Sharpe 2005

NT 0741 4283 The excavation of a cropmark enclosure at Brownsbank, near Biggar, was carried out in August 2006 as part of the Department of Archaeology's annual field school. Trial excavation (DES 2005, 132) had shed little light on the nature of this enclosure, so a larger open area excavation was undertaken in this final season. The enclosure was initially identified by RCAHMS field staff in 1975 in preparation of their Lanarkshire Inventory (1978, 145-6) as a 'wasted' earthwork, and an inconclusive excavation took place. Subsequently the site was ploughed flat and appeared as a cropmark in 1992.

Three phases of activity were identified. The earliest seems to be a rectangular setting of nine timber posts, aligned roughly NE-SW, with three postholes on either side, one post on the NE end, and two on the SW end. No artefacts were associated with these heavily plough-truncated features, but the posts would have been in the order of 0.5m in diameter. This post setting may be Neolithic, and sits within the earthwork enclosure initially identified by RCAHMS. The enclosure measures 20 x 13m NE-SW internally, within a shallow ditch on average 2m wide and 0.2m deep. The ditch contains two fills, one possibly related to the collapse/erosion of an eternal bank of which no trace was found. A single entrance gap exists on the NNE side of the enclosure. Although this is not a traditional henge monument, it neatly encloses the timber setting and therefore we have argued that it was constructed with reference to that structure and may well also be Neolithic.

The ditch of this enclosure was cut on the S side by a regular rectangular trench/ditch with vertical sides and a flat bottom. Shallow postholes were recorded along the edge of this feature on both sides, equally spaced at 1.25m apart. The contents of this trench were modern, including corroded iron (such as nails and a chain), glass, clay pipe fragments, charred wood and burnt bricks. This feature was partially excavated by RCAHMS. The most likely explanation seems to be that this feature is related to Home Guard activity in WWII, possibly a training feature or firing position that would have had a sandbag revetment. The heavily truncated nature of the site leaves all of these conclusions provisional.

Sponsor: Glasgow University.

Kenneth Brophy and Gordon Noble, 2006.

Activities

Excavation (August 2006)

NT 0741 4283 The excavation of a cropmark enclosure at Brownsbank, near Biggar, was carried out in August 2006 as part of the Department of Archaeology's annual field school. Trial excavation (DES 2005, 132) had shed little light on the nature of this enclosure, so a larger open area excavation was undertaken in this final season. The enclosure was initially identified by RCAHMS field staff in 1975 in preparation of their Lanarkshire Inventory (1978, 145-6) as a 'wasted' earthwork, and an inconclusive excavation took place. Subsequently the site was ploughed flat and appeared as a cropmark in 1992.

Three phases of activity were identified. The earliest seems to be a rectangular setting of nine timber posts, aligned roughly NE-SW, with three postholes on either side, one post on the NE end, and two on the SW end. No artefacts were associated with these heavily plough-truncated features, but the posts would have been in the order of 0.5m in diameter. This post setting may be Neolithic, and sits within the earthwork enclosure initially identified by RCAHMS. The enclosure measures 20 x 13m NE-SW internally, within a shallow ditch on average 2m wide and 0.2m deep. The ditch contains two fills, one possibly related to the collapse/erosion of an eternal bank of which no trace was found. A single entrance gap exists on the NNE side of the enclosure. Although this is not a traditional henge monument, it neatly encloses the timber setting and therefore we have argued that it was constructed with reference to that structure and may well also be Neolithic.

The ditch of this enclosure was cut on the S side by a regular rectangular trench/ditch with vertical sides and a flat bottom. Shallow postholes were recorded along the edge of this feature on both sides, equally spaced at 1.25m apart. The contents of this trench were modern, including corroded iron (such as nails and a chain), glass, clay pipe fragments, charred wood and burnt bricks. This feature was partially excavated by RCAHMS. The most likely explanation seems to be that this feature is related to Home Guard activity in WWII, possibly a training feature or firing position that would have had a sandbag revetment. The heavily truncated nature of the site leaves all of these conclusions provisional.

Sponsor: Glasgow University.

K Brophy and G Noble 2006

References

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