Fairneylees

NT45NE 3 NT 49485 56789

(NT 4948 5678) Enclosure (NR)

OS 25" map (1967)

On the edge of the steep left bank of a tributary of the Hillhouse Burn are the remains of an earthwork which has recently been brought under cultivation. Roughly circular on plan, it has measured about 90' in internal diameter, and has been surrounded by a rampart and ditch, both of which are now in a fragmentary state. No trace of the rampart survives on the S side, where it ran along the crest of a natural scarp, some 6' high, and it has similarly been obliterated on the N; elsewhere it is represented by a low earth and rubble mound from 23' to 28' in thickness, but the original breadth of the rampart must have been somewhat less. The ditch, which was originally about 15' wide, is only visible at the SE and SW corners, and in neither case is it more than 18" deep at the present time; at the SW corner it is accompanied by a slight counterscarp mound. There is only a single entrance, some 10' wide, situated in the centre of the E side. The interior, which slopes gently from N to S, has been excavated on the lower side to provide a level floor, but there is no sign of structures.

RCAHMS MSS, visited 1952

This enclosure is as described, but is reduced by cultivation. Sufficient remains to enable it to be classified as a scooped settlement.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (JTT) 16 December 1964 and (BS) 31 July 1975