Birrens Hill
Farmstead (Post Medieval), Settlement (Iron Age)
Site Name Birrens Hill
Classification Farmstead (Post Medieval), Settlement (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Carruthers Hill
Canmore ID 67229
Site Number NY28SW 9
NGR NY 24467 80797
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/67229
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Middlebie
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Annandale And Eskdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
NY28SW 9 24467 80797
(NY 2450 8075) Earthwork (NR)
OS 6" map (1957)
For nearby cord rig, see NY28SW 73.
Location formerly entered as NY 2450 8075.
Earthwork on Birrens Hill. Probably not prehistoric: ?Roman or medieval.
(Visible on APs 540/RAF/1540 F22: 0029-30, dated 11 March 1955)
RCAHMS 1920; (undated) information from OS archaeology record card.
Situated in non-defensive position at NY 2446 8077, astride the broad ridge of Birrens Hill, is an earthwork with rounded corners measuring 68.0m square, comprising an earthen bank and outer ditch. There is a probable entrance in the S side but this together with the interior has been mutilated by later buildings and quarries.
Despite the square plan, the general position and characteristics suggest that this is a settlement similar to many others in the area.
At the NE corner, running along the E side and leaving by the S are banks which from examination of aerial photographs can be seen to be the head dyke of a field system.
On the S of the settlement are the remains of buildings and enclosures which probably formed an early sheep farm and which are undoubtedly associated with four circular turf-built sheepfolds about 100m to the SW. This farm was clearly superseded by the now ruinous Carruthershill at NY 2450 8043 and the rectangular sheepfold to the SW of the settlement.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (JP) 16 July 1970
(NY 2446 8077) Settlement (NR)
OS 25" map (1971)
Settlement, Birrens Hill. Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1980.
(Undated) information from OS record card.
Scheduled as 'Birrens Hill, enclosure and farmstead 750m W of Carruthers...'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 13 March 2010.
Settlement [NAT] (depiction centred NY 24467 80797)
OS (GIS) MasterMap, April 2010.
Note (1997)
NY 2450 8075 NY28SW 9
Listed as (rectilinear) settlement, palisade (possible) and farmstead.
RCAHMS 1997.
