Clonfeckle

NX98NE 3 9587 8669.

NX 958 867. Situated on the crest of a slight rise, about 1000 yds NE of Clonfeckle Tower and 270yds W of Duncow Burn is an oval setting of irregularly spaced boulders which the RCAHMS and Feachem following them suggest is probably the kerb of a long cairn, measuring some 110 by 84 ft. Miss Henshall, however, states that there is no evidence that there has ever been a cairn at this site and it seems more likely that the boulders are the last vestiges of the wall of an enclosure.

RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912; R W Feachem 1963; A S Henshall 1972, visited 1962; M R Dobie 1959

NX 9587 8669. A near circular setting of stones measuring approximately 30.0m in diameter. It is composed of 27 intermittently spaced and irregularly shaped earth- fast boulders, of 0.6m average width. There is a 4.0m stretch of earth-and-stone banking 0.8m wide and 0.2m high on the north and a similar bank 10.0m long and with a single boulder at its east end, lying to the south of the circle.

Just south of the centre of the circle is a pit 3.8m in diameter and 1.3m deep. There is a loose boulder 0.5m by 0.5m by 0.5m within it and some probable upcast, around its rim. The interior is otherwise featureless and undulating.

The boulders do not appear to have formed a kerb and they are unlikely to be a stone circle. Miss Henshall's suggestion of a ruined enclosure seems the most feasible explanation. The off-centre pit could be the result of desultory digging.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (BS) 9 August 1977.