Lindean
Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Lindean
Classification Settlement (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 54417
Site Number NT43SE 10
NGR NT 4866 3087
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/54417
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Galashiels
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Selkirkshire
NT43SE 10 4866 3087.
(NT 4866 3087) Earthwork (NR) (site of)
OS 6" map (1971)
Earthwork, Lindean (Site): Three sides of an earthwork appear on air photographs taken in 1947 (CPE.Scot.UK 270:4220-1) as crop marks in a cultivated field.
It is situated on the nose of a spur, its exact position being indicated on (earlier) OS maps by a triangulation station (519ft OD). The fourth (S) side of the earthwork lies in an adjacent field and is separated from the rest by a track; owing to different crop conditions this side was not visible when the photographs were taken. The visible remains comprise double ditches from 20ft to 40ft apart, which enclose a D-shaped area measuring 250ft from E to W along the chord formed by the track, by 190 ft transversely.
As the ground falls fairly sharply from the edge of the track to the Batts Burn it is probable that the missing side did not extend very far down the slope, and that it was straight rather than curvilinear. Two gaps in the ditches, one in the W and the other in the NE side, may represent original entrances.
The oval upper stone of a flat rotary quern, ploughed up within the earthwork in 1948, is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland [NMAS].
RCAHMS 1957, visited 1949; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1953
All surface traces of this earthwork have been obliterated by cultivation.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 19 January 1961.
Note (1 October 2015 - 18 May 2016)
Cropmarks reveal a fort situated on the crest of a low spur above the ruins of Lindean old parish church. Probably roughly oval on plan, double ditches some 2m to 3m in breadth and set about 10m apart can be traced round most of the circuit, only disappearing in an unresponsive field of grass on the S, where the ground also falls away more steeply. Within the interior, which measures about 60m from E to W by at least 45m transversely (0.21ha), three diffuse maculae probably mark the positions of structures. First identified on vertical aerial photographs, in 1949 RCAHMS investigators identified possible entrance on the NE and W, but neither is particularly well-defined on more recent oblique photographs taken for the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme. A rotary quernstone was picked up on the site in 1948.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3547
Sbc Note
Visibility: Unknown. The state of preservation of this structure or monument is unknown.
Information from Scottish Borders Council.
