Kingside Hill

231. Cairns, Kingside Hill.

Half a mile north-east of Mayshiel near the foot of the western slope of Kingside Hill, about 150 yards south [sic] of the Gifford and Priestlaw road and some 100 yards east of the cart track between Mayshiel and Johnscleugh, are two circular cairns. The most southerly is 36 feet in diameter and 3 ½ feet in height; the second, 143 feet to the north-north-east is 28 feet in diameter and 2 ½ feet in height. Both show signs of excavation on the top.

RCAHMS 1924, visited 30 May 1913.

OS Map ref: xvi. S.E. (unnoted) [sic].

NT66SW 13 6270 6488 and 6268 6484.

(A: NT 6270 6488; B: NT 6268 6484) Mounds (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

These grass-covered cairns are generally as described by the RCAHMS. Both have been considerably mutilated.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 13 April 1966

These two mounds lie on regularly cultivated ground and their bases are being squared by ploughing. They are composed of large stones and earth and are partly covered by modern field clearance stone. 'A' now measures 10.0m in diameter and 0.5m in height, and 'B' is 12.0m in diameter and 0.9m in height. Ploughing has revealed an enigmatic stony patch between the mounds at NT 6268 6486, which is 10.3m in diameter and 0.1m in height; it may however, be a natural feature.

The mounds cannot be positively identified as burial cairns and they may be clearance cairns similar to those in the nearby group on Kingside Hill (NT66NW 19).

Surveyed at 1/10,000.

Visited by OS (MJF) 1 June 1979.

The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.