Green Knowe

NT81NW 42 from 8242 1703 to 8280 1710

(NT 8242 1703 to NT 8280 1710) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map, (1962).

This linear earthwork runs from the head of Muckle Sund Hope to an under-feature W of Green Knowe, from which the ground drops steeply down to the Calroust Burn. It could be called a 'cross-dyke', of which there are a number in Roxburghshire. They are non-defensive, though they may have served as obstacles to traffic. There is no conclusive evidence for dating them to any particular period.

Running WSW-ENE, it measures 458 yds over gaps. A gap 15' wide occurs 170 yds from the E end, and 106 yds W of this, there is another gap, 24 yds wide, through which pass most of the tracks forming The Street. On the W side of this gap the work curves to the N for some 25 yds, resuming its original direction on the other side of a gap 15' wide through which passes another of the tracks.

Superficial observation suggests that this gap has been worn by traffic passing over the bank; but the track is probably a late one as its bottom is level and not V-shaped. Again, there are some faint indications of a filled-up ditch extending, from the W side of the wide gap mentioned above, some 18' E of the end of the mound; while on the E side of the gap bank and ditch appear to terminate raggedly. Traffic has thus at least broadened the gap at both sides, if it has not actually formed it by the breaching of a pre-existing and originally continuous earthwork.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1938 and 1944.

As described by the RCAHMS.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 1 September 1960.

No change.

Revised at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (TRG) 10 September 1976.

Situated at the N end of Mid Hill and Green Knowe, overlooking the saddle connecting the latter to Calroust Common to the N, there is a linear earthwork. Although the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1992) depicts the W end of the earthwork as commencing at NT 8267 1698, the W end of the feature was surveyed at NT 8242 1703.

Commencing above steep slopes overlooking the Muckle Sund Hope on the W, the earthwork continues, in a roughly E direction, along the base of the slope dropping down to the level ground of the saddle. It continues E over the moderate slope falling away to the Greenknowe Sike until the ground becomes moderately steep to steep at which point it terminates on Green Knowe. The earthwork varies in width from 3m to 4m in width and 1m to 1.5m in height. It measures 410m in overall length but is interrupted in several places. There is a 4m break only 15m from the E end, and a further 5m wide break 140m further W. The earthwork resumes for another 60m before the E of two substantial breaks where the braided course of The Street (NT81NW 92) crosses through. After this break, which is 19m wide, the earthwork resumes for 18m, curving to the N, at which point there is a 3m wide gap. It resumes for a further 25m at which point the second substantial break, utilised by a modern track, occurs. After 8m the earthwork resumes and continues, uninterrupted until it reaches the deeply incised valley of the Muckle Sund Hope. There are traces of a ditch along the S, or uphill side, of the earthwork for much of its course but there is no visible ditch in the central section for about 160m to the S of the E break for The Street.

The relationship of The Street with the earthwork is indeterminate. The W route is much more constrained than the E route and seems to lead S onto Mid Hill where the tracks terminate. In contrast the E route displays greater use as the track wandered and broke down much of the original earthwork. It would seem that the E alignment represents the original, or preferred route across the saddle but it is uncertain if the earliest alignment of the route is in any way contemporary with the currency of the earthwork.

Information from RJ Mercer (University of Edinburgh) 2 April 1985

RCAHMS MS 2598. No. 43/563