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Martinlee Sike
Scooped Settlement (Middle Iron Age)
Site Name Martinlee Sike
Classification Scooped Settlement (Middle Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Martinlee Plantation/ Martinlee Sike
Canmore ID 56811
Site Number NT60NE 6
NGR NT 6570 0801
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56811
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Southdean
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT60NE 6 6570 0801.
(NT 6570 0801) Enclosure (NR)
OS 6" map, (1963).
Situated on a strip of uncultivated moorland, this circular enclosure measures 102' in diameter within a ruined boulder-faced earthen wall 6' thick and not more than 2' high. Traces of quarry-ditch can be seen round the outside of the wall and an entrance, 6' wide, opens towards the sike. The only internal feature is a scooped hollow, now waterlogged, immediately inside the entrance.
(RCAHMS 1956, visited 1948).
A circular enclosure built on sloping ground and comprising an earth-and-stone wall, with occasional faces, 1.5m thick. The entrance is in the SE and leads to a small stream. It is clearly a stock enclosure and the sharp profile of the bank suggests that it may not be of any great age.
Visited by OS (JP) 16 July 1973.
No change to previous information.
Visited by OS (TRG) 20 September 1976.
Field Visit (24 February 1992)
This scooped settlement lies on the NW bank of the Martinlee Sike, immediately N of the public road from Carter Bar to Hawick. The ground to the N is peat-covered, but the site is situated at the top of a hillslope covered in cultivation remains (NT60NE 20.03).
The settlement, which is oval on plan, measures 32m from NW to SE by 29m transversely within a stony bank spread to 2.5m in thickness and 0.6m in height with an entrance on the SE. The wall is accompanied by a shallow external ditch, some 2.5m in width and 0.3m in depth. The entrance opens into a scooped area or forecourt around which on the NW and SW there is a terrace some 15m in breadth. A small hut has been built against the bank on the SW side of the entrance.
(ROX92 51)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 24 February 1992.
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
