Hopeton

A desk-based assessment and reconnaissance field survey have been carried out for the Proposed Development Site. Seventeen cultural heritage assets (sites and features) have been identified within the Proposed Development Site. These range in date from the early prehistoric (Neolithic/Bronze Age) to the post-medieval period and include a well-preserved cup and ring marked rock, which is a Scheduled Monument, several prehistoric artefact find-spots, a possible prehistoric enclosure and later post-medieval settlement and agrarian activity.

Funder: Community Windpower Ltd.

CFA Archaeology Ltd

OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-260699

A farmstead, annotated ‘Hopeton’, is depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition map (Ayr, 1858, Sheet X1.5 (West Kilbride), 25 inch). The farmstead comprised three roofed buildings and three enclosures. A series of rectilinear fields surround the farmstead. By the Ordnance Survey 2nd Edition map (Ayr, 1896, Sheet 011.05, 25 inch) the farmstead comprises two buildings, one of which is only partially roofed, and three enclosures. The same farmstead is shown on the 1910 Ordnance Survey map (25 inch). Canmore and the HER record that the ruined farmstead of ‘Hopeton’ has been surveyed in 1994 (Vickers 1994). A comprehensive archive search has been undertaken together with a photographic and site survey during which ground plans of the structures were made.

The remains of Hopeton Farmstead were identified during the current field survey. The farmstead comprises the remains of a long rectangular building (16a), which appears to be split into at least four compartments, and the remains of another building (16b) (possibly an outbuilding), split into two compartments, just to the west. The long rectangular building (16a) survives in varying condition, most is visible only as wall footings, however, the second compartment (from the west) is generally well preserved with walls surviving to 2m high in places. Two doorways are still visible within this part of the building, at the southwest end and on the southern side, and one window frame is still partially preserved in the southern side. The building is of stone and lime mortar construction; the walls of the building are constructed from large well-dressed stone and the doorways and windows have ornate facings. The condition of the long rectangular building reflects the depiction of the farmstead on the Ordnance Survey 2nd Edition map (1896) which shows that only the second compartment as roofed while the rest of the building is shown as unroofed. The second building (16b) (outbuilding) is generally poorly preserved with only mostly turf-covered footings of the building visible; although the northern elevation of the building still stands to 2 m high (max). The farmstead stands on a flat rectangular platform within an area of scrub land on the edge of a commercial forestry plantation. The outline of the enclosure (16c) surrounding the farmstead, as depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition map, is visible as tumbled grass-covered banks.

The remains of a field system depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition map (1856) to the south of the farmstead still partially survives within the forestry plantation. The remains of a large turf-covered stone bank (16d) are visible running along the edge of the modern forestry. The bank is 2 m wide and 0.9 m high and two, now dead, deciduous trees, stand on the top of the bank. This bank appears to correspond with the tree-lined enclosure shown on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition map to the south of the farmstead. The remains of two stone field walls (16e and 16f) are also visible running along the edge of the modern forestry to the east of the farmstead and these also correspond with field boundaries shown on the 1st Edition map. A further section of turf-covered stone bank (16g), approximately 160m to the southeast of the farmstead is visible running along the edge of the forestry. The current condition of further field boundaries are not known, these are now located in an area of dense commercial forestry; the field boundaries are however visible as partially tumbled walls on modern aerial photographs (GoogleEarthTM) suggesting that they likely still survive within the forestry.

Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-260699 (M Hastie) 2015