Glenlude

NT 30970 29468 Pre-forestry survey was carried out by Peeblesshire Archaeological Society on 26 May 2021, following a reconnaissance on 14 April. The survey was more productive than initial impressions of the farm might have suggested, it being primarily hill farm, with no woodland to speak of and little in the way of cultivable land. A handheld Garmin GPS was used to locate and map the sites.

Glenlude Farm is first mapped by William Edgar in 1741. The area of in-bye fields immediately NW of the farmhouse and steading includes dry stone walled fields of 19th-century date as well as later post-and-wire fenced fields. Fragments of earlier earthen-banked enclosures of post-medieval date are traceable on the SW edge of the dry stone fields (Site no 1, in inventory below). Edgar’s map also shows a road running to the W of the Farm, which is confirmed by braided hollow trackways on The Rig (Site 20). The Rig also has several marker cairns (Sites 19, 22–23) and a marker stone (Site 24) to aid passage along the route. In modern times it has been used by the Southern Upland Way, near which a ‘kist’ or cache (Site 25) was found, one of a number commissioned as part of an arts project associated with this walking route. Sheep farming structures are a significant element in the sites recorded and illustrate the main land use of the last 300 years; they include the present livestock enclosure on the S flank of the Rig (Site 26) and various turf and dry stone sheep pens, enclosures and linear sheep shelters.

Remarkably, prehistoric activity is represented by three large

burnt mounds that were found along the Glenlude Burn (Sites 2 and 4) and its tributary the Kinchie Cleuch (Site 9), and two cultivation terraces (Site 30) above the modern fields above Glenlude House, near which a terraced hut platform (Site 29) was also found, the possible site of a timber roundhouse. The cultivation terraces are typical of prehistoric field systems that are found in Yarrow and widely across Peeblesshire.

Inventory of sites Glenlude Burn

NT 30970 29468 Site 1, Earthen field bank. On W edge of stone- diked fields, probably an earlier field boundary (not mapped).

NT 30536 29401 Site 2, Burnt mound. On edge of boggy hollow, U-shaped and open to N, 13.5 x 10m, W arm shorter stands 0.5m in height and E arm 0.7m. A sondage revealed angular stones in a dark soil.

NT 30057 29223 Site 3, Shieling hut (possible). On N bank of burn is a possible shieling hut cut by the burn on it S, marked by a stony bank to W, N, and E (not measured).

NT 29724 29226. Site 4, Burnt mound, this kidney-shaped burnt mound measures 8m from N/S by 10m transversely and stands 1.8m height downslope, the W arm is barely visible. It opens to the N where there is a boggy hollow. A sondage revealed angular stones.

Kinchie Cleuch

NT 29969 29282 Site 5, Sheep shelter. A Y-shaped earthen bank measuring 39m from N/S spread to 4m in thickness and 0.4m in height with two arms, each 8m in length, at the S end:

NT 29969 29272 Site 6. Circular dry stone sheepfold. An arc of earthen bank externally around the NW side, probably an earlier version in turf.

NT 29892 29281 Site 7, Bridge. The stone abutments of a footbridge, beside the track leading W from the dry stone stell.

NT 29903 29265 Site 8, possible shieling hut. On a terrace on the N bank of the burn, measures 4.8m WNW–ESE by 2m within a stony bank visible on the S and E, 0.2m in height and 1.2m in thickness. Possible entrance on the W end where the bank dips.

NT 29841 29348 Site 9, a burnt mound. It is situated on the edge of a shallow runnel that descends the slope parallel to the NE lip of the steep-sided stream gully known as Kinchie Cleuch. The mound is kidney-shaped on plan, with its open side facing into the runnel on the NE. It measures about 6m from NW/SE by 4m transversely and between 0.2m and 0.7m in height. A sondage revealed angular stones in a dark soil matrix.

NT 29766 29450–NT 29765 29435 Site 10, a sheep shelter, comprising a ruined dry stone wall some 13m in length and 0.7m in height set at right-angles to the contours, is situated on the S flank of The Rig above Kinchie Cleuch.

Middle Rig

NT 29258 29029 Site 11, Greywacke quarry, at the crest of the hill just below the Southern Upland Way runs N–S along the E of the crest over c30m along Middle Rig.

NT 29331 29035 Site 12, Sheep Shelter, a linear stone sheep shelter that appears on the 1st Edition OS map.

NT 29309 28904–NT 29345 28901 Site 13, a turf bank drops down the slope over a distance of about 35m E and W towards the top of the Glenlude Burn.

NT 29069 28948 Site 14, an iron fence stanchion has been set into a stone on the crest of Middle Rig a little NE of the present boundary between the moorland to the NE and the forestry to the SW. Square in section and about 1m high, at its base the stanchion splits into two in the form of a tuning fork, and both prongs have been leaded into sockets in the stone. It is on the line of the boundary shown on the 1st Edition OS 6-inch map (Peeblesshire 1860, sheet XXI).

Yellow Mire Burn

NT 29396 29565 Site 15, possible turf sheep pen, In an area of well drained grass land, measures 6m from ENE–WSW by 5m transversely, over ill-defined earthen banks 1.5m thick and up to

0.3 high. Marker stone is situated close by.

NT 29411 29538 Site 16, possible turf sheep pen, it measures

4.3 in diameter over earthen banks, 1.2m in thickness and 0.2m in height.

NT 29387 29569 Site 17, marker stone, a small marker stone standing 0.3m in height, close to a turf sheep pen.

The Rig

NT 29927 29723, NT 29937 29719, NT 29945 29722, NT 29944

29741 and NT 29921 29737 are points on the perimeter of Site 18, a dry stone, sub-square shaped, sheepfold, built on the crest of The Rig making use of exposures of bedrock.

NT 29764 29904 Site 19, dry stone marker cairn, which extends 4m in length, NW–SE, and stands 1m high wall on crest of the NE facing side of The Rig.

Site 20, a trackway can be followed from N to S over the crest of The Rig, braiding at the top of the Sprain Burn, where it coincides with the route of the Southern Upland Way, and bifurcating at several other points elsewhere. One arm mounts the slope from the top of the Sprain Burn roughly parallel and a little below the Southern Upland Way, but coordinates were only taken at its northern end. The other arm climbs the slope more directly and can be followed as far as the moss at the top of the Kinchie Cleuch Burn. It was not traced further southwards, but either re-connects with the line of the Southern Upland Way or takes a more westerly route. NT 30023 29500 Site 21, sheep shelter, On S flank of Rough Rig, a collapsed dry stone wall, extending 20m from N/S, standing

0.5m in height.

NT 29881 29726 Site 22, dry stone marker cairn. It stands 0.7m high and 2.5m diameter. Marked on OS map at NT 29890 29732. NT 29759 29643 Site 23, dry stone marker cairn, 0.5m high, similar construction to the previous one but more tumbled down. NT 29581 29906 Site 24, marker stone, A small standing stone,

c0.4m high.

NT 29662 29861 Site 25, a treasure cache (modern). A hollow fibreglass cache ornamented in style of Innerleithen cross shaft with an opening on SE covered by cup and ring mark; this sculptured container or ‘kist’ was one of a series created for the Southern Upland Way ‘Waymerks’ project originally launched in 2002 (see https://www.southernuplandway.gov.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2019/07/hoard-leaflet-suw.pdf).

NT 29830 29603 Site 26, livestock enclosure. A dry stone livestock enclosure for sheep, still in use, is depicted on OS map.

Sprain Burn

NT 31022 30099 Site 27, two turf shieling huts. On the terrace to the S of Sprain Burn, one overlies the other at right angles, c9m across overall.

Glenlude House

NT 30796 29606 (centred) Site 28, sub-circular enclosure, c40m diameter, within a bank 2m across and 0.3m high. It is cut by a modern track on SW and a second bank forms an arc to it on the NE, suggesting a rebuild. There is also gap in the bank on the SE, which may be intentional. A turf pen lies within it, NT 30775 29602, on a terrace to the W side of the enclosure and above a hollow on its E.

NT 30680 29574 Site 29, Hut platform, situated above the stone-dyked fields at Glenlude House, it measures 7.5m from NW/ SE by 8.5m transversely with a terrace 0.4m high on the SE and a shallower terrace at the back.

NT 30702 29591–NT 30729 29611 and NT 30729 29628– NT 30704 29606 Site 30, two cultivation terraces, standing c0.4m in height and about 12m apart run along the contour on the SE facing hillside above the stone-dyked fields at Glenlude House.

NT 31103 29660 Site 31, sheep shelter. Large grass-covered bank of stone, 3m thick and 0.8m in height on an E–W axis on the W of a dry stone field dyke beside the Glenlude Burn.

Archive: Scottish Borders Council SMR Funder: Forest Direct

Piers Dixon and Stratford Halliday – Peeblesshire Archaeological Society

(Source: DES Vol 22)