Moss Maw, Penmanshiel

NT86NW 18 807 670.

(Centred NT 8072 6707) Tumuli (NR) (30 shown)

OS 6"map, Berwickshire, 1st ed., (1858).

(Name: NT 8072 6705) Cairns (NR) (site of).

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976).

Tumuli: A number of small mounds or hillocks, said to contain human remains, situated near the W edge of Penmanshiel Moor about 10 chains NNW of Moss Maw.

Name Book 1856.

Hardy notes about thirty tumuli, apparent as mere rounded conical eminences of varying sizes; some of the larger ones covered cists.

He also notes two large cairns, about 21m in diameter and 3m in height, one surrounded by a stone wall, which had stood nearby, in a hollow a short distance N of St David's Cairn (NT86NW 19) (? Moss Maw: NT 808 668) These were removed during cultivation.

J Hardy 1856.

A fine, half polished flint axe was found recently on what was recently a heath moor, sprinkled over with small barrows composed of stones, thinly protected with turf. These were levelled and partially excavated. There were no cists. A flint knife was found on ground once occupied by cairns, next Harelawside march. This was destroyed.

J Hardy 1876.

Two cairns, 24ft in diameter, are still traceable about 1/4 mile E of Penmanshiel.

J H Craw 1923.

There are two cairns, at NT 8064 6687 and NT 8065 6682, situated in an area of rough ground, but these are merely field clearance heaps constructed by the local farmer, although they may lie upon the sites

of the cairns previously mentioned. They measure approximately 20m and 29m across respectively.

Nearby are four or five very slight, unsurveyable, grassy eminences about 2.0m to 3.0m in diameter and 0.2m high. No trace of any stones was found in these features and their purpose cannot be ascertained without excavation.

The site of the tumuli shown on OS 6" 1858 has been under the plough for many years and no trace of any features can be seen in the area.

Visited by OS(RD) 22 December 1965.

There is no trace of any of the cairns noticed by the previous authorities. A 'vase' donated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1830, (Archaeol Scot 1890) was found in a cist below a large cairn in Harelawside farm; this may be a reference either to one of the large cairns mentioned above, or to St David's Cairn (NT86NW 19). (A A

Carr 1836).

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1979.