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Pudding Law
Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric), Ring Ditch House(S) (Prehistoric), Settlement (Period Unassigned), Sheepfold (Period Unassigned), Wall (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Pudding Law
Classification Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric), Ring Ditch House(S) (Prehistoric), Settlement (Period Unassigned), Sheepfold (Period Unassigned), Wall (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 59091
Site Number NT81NW 65
NGR NT 83507 17442
NGR Description From NT 83479 17476 to NT 83505 17391
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/59091
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Morebattle
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT81NW 65 from 83479 17476 to 83505 17391
A sheepfold of two compartments, a length of wall and two conjoined enclosures are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Roxburghshire 1863, sheet xxiii). An 'Old Sheepfold' is shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1992).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 26 July 2000
Situated on a gentle slope to the NW of the summit of a spur on the NW side of Pudding Law, there is a complex sequence of settlement and enclosure. The earliest elements appear to be a pair of ring-ditch houses associated with what may be a stretch of palisade situated on gently sloping ground just off the summit. The E ring-ditch house measures 13m in overall diameter. The central platform is elongated towards the NNW end and measures 13m from NNW to SSE by 10m transversely. There is a marked ditch, spread up to 1.5m in width on all but the NNW. The second ring-ditch house, which is less well-preserved and is truncated on the S by a later enclosure, lies immediately to the W. It was evidently substantially larger measuring about 20m across in overall diameter though the central platform is 12m across. The platform is eccentrically placed within the enclosing ditch which ranges in width from 2m on the NW to 4m on the NE where it is bounded by a low bank up to 2m in width. This bank appears to be shared with a possible palisade-trench, which averages 1m in width and is partly bounded by a low bank on the N side. Traceable over some 60m, the palisade-trench extends E to the base of a low scarp immediately below the summit, where it stops. What may be a third building, possibly a ring-groove house, measuring 11m in diameter within a shallow groove averaging 0.5m in width, lies hard against this palisade about 5m to the E of the ring-ditch houses. Oblique aerial photographs (D Harding, University of Edinburgh; RCAHMS 1985) suggest that a fourth possible building is situated in the angle between the two ring-ditch houses although this could not be defined through ground survey. This settlement is probably associated with the two patches of cord-rig to the N (NT81NW 66) and E (NT81NW 75).
Later a sub-square enclosure, with an outshot to the SE, was constructed on the spur, just clipping the SSE side of the W ring-ditch house. The enclosure measures 21m from NE to SW by 20m within a bank spread to 2.4m in width. The outshot measures 10m from NE to SW by 8m. There are traces of an internal structure in the N angle of the enclosure. A stone-built sheepfold was subsequently erected within the enclosure and is probably its direct replacement. It comprises a rectangular fold measuring 16m from NW to SE by 6m internally, with an outshot again on the SE end. Various other banks, extending off to the S, some of which, overlie the enclosure, may be associated with this fold.
Information from RJ Mercer (University of Edinburgh) 2 April 1985
RCAHMS MS 2598. No. 44/572
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
