Harden Burn, Monklaw

NT62SW 22 6446 2234.

(NT 6446 2234) Camp (NR) (Site of).

OS 6" map, Roxburghshire, (1923).

Earthwork, Harden Burn, Monklaw. This earthwork, a quarter of a mile SE of RCAHMS 1956, no.463 and the same distance SW of Monklaw, stood on the S side of the Harden Burn at an elevation of 500ft above sea-level. On the E the ground falls gradually to the Jed Water; to N and S the curving arm of the Harden Burn offers a certain degree of protection, and only on the S side is there no natural obstacle to approach. Afforestation and cultivation have destroyed practically every trace of the earthwork, but a stretch of rampart 75yds in length, not noted on the OS map, is preserved immediately on the N side of the fence which divides the cultivated ground from the wooded bank of the ravine. The rampart is built of earth and small stones and appears to have been some 12ft in thickness.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 27 October 1938.

Miscellaneous Earthworks:

In the absence of excavation, over eighty earth-works in the county cannot be classified either because they do not conform to recognised types or because their plans are not sufficiently distinctive. A few of these, occupying commanding positions on hilltops or the crests of ridges, are unlikely to be later than the 11th century; such are Bonchester Hill (no.278), the group of earthworks on Whitcastle Hill (no.865), and five roughly D-shaped earthworks lying within a radius of two miles between the River Teviot and the Slitrig Water - Gray Hill 2 (no.999), Birny Knowe (no.995), Crom Rig (no.1000), Dodburn (no.160, ii), and Pen Sike (no.168)-which are characterised by ramparts massive in proportion to their size. The majority, however, are situated on hill-sides or in the bottoms of valleys, generally below the 800ft contour, and are probably mediaeval. Most of these lower-lying structures, of which the out- standing examples are Timpendean (no.435), Iron Castle (no.945), and Scraesburgh (no.466), were evidently designed for habitation and presumably contained wooden buildings; but a few of the simpler earthworks such as Huntly Burn (no.51) may have been enclosures for stock.

RCAHMS 1956.

As described by RCAHM. The site is a reasonable one for a defensive work.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 1 February 1967.