Swallowdean

NT75NE 21 NT 79640 56044

NT 7963 5602. Concentric soil marks visible on RAF air photographs: 106G. Scot/UK 15: 7242-3.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

There is nothing visible on the ground, in a non-defensive situation.

Visited by OS (JLD) 14 January 1955.

A section of worked jet, apparently intended to be a bracelet, was picked up here following drainage operations.

It is still in Mr MacKinnon's possession.

E McKinnon 1969; OS 6"map, annotated by E McKinnon, 11 Currie St, Duns.

Cropmarks reveal a ditched enclosure, possibly a settlement, measuring about 50m in diameter.

RCAHMS 1980.

This settlement, which is situated on near-level ground to the W of Swallowdean, has been recorded as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs (RCAHMSAP 1981, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2003). Oval on plan, it measures about 75m from NW to SE by 70m transversely over a broad ditch up to 5m in breadth. There is an entrance gap some 25m across on the NW, and a narrower gap some 15m across on the SE. This morphology, with broad opposed entrances at either end of an oval interior, gives the impression of a Class II henge, but close inspection of the aerial photographs indicates that part of the interior is slightly scooped, and the concentric gap between the back of the scoop and the inner lip of the ditch reveals the former presence of an internal bank. The breadth of the entrances suggests that this bank returned around the ditch terminals. The perimeter of the settlement thus comprised twin banks with a medial ditch. The settlement lies within a larger enclosure measuring about 130m across within a broad ditch that describes a C-shaped course with its open side facing onto a shallow gully on the E. The cropmarks reveal the presence of field-drains in this gully, which is evidently relatively poorly drained.

Information from RCAHMS (DCC) 30 March 2005