Capelaw Hill

NT26NW 475 centred 21842 65438

A possible system of watered meadows is situated immediately NW of Capelaw farmstead (NT26NW 416). The meadows are the catchwork-type, which were mainly established on hillslopes, as opposed to bedwork-type meadows which were situated on flatter land beside water courses. Water meadows were designed to promote the growth of grass in springtime by flooding the ground with comparatively warm, nutrient-carrying water. The water was led to the meadows by way of a channel from a suitable source, usually a spring. On long slopes there would be a series of channels or 'gutters' at regular intervals (Brown 2005).

At Capelaw more than one water source was used. The first is the boggy ground at the head of the Kirk Burn, some 800m NE of Capelaw farmstead. From here a relatively narrow, overgrown channel runs across the SE-facing slope and contours around the head of a steep-sided burn-gully. The channel crosses ground that was formerly cultivated by rig-and-furrow and is now rough pasture, and appears also to cross the lower of the enclosed fields below the farmstead, emerging into rough ground to the SW. This channel is the lowermost of four on the SE-facing slope. These other channels, which are set at irregular intervals, cut across the relict broad rig-and-furrow cultivation and are truncated by the enclosed field.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 22 June 2005.