Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  Legal Documents for Vicarsford Cemetery, enclosure 600m SE of (SM7096)

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600001339)

Summary

Description

The monument is a palisaded enclosure of prehistoric date (earlier than AD 400). The remains lie buried beneath the topsoil and are visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs. The enclosure is sub-circular in shape, defined by a ditch that encloses an area measuring about 45m SW-NE by at least 30m transversely. The enclosing ditch is clearly visible on the SW, NW and NE sides but the extent of the enclosure to the SE is not known. A possible break in the NW side may indicate an entrance. Several pits lie within the interior of the enclosure: cremated human bone was recovered from one of these during archaeological evaluation. The monument lies to the S of Cowbakie Hill on a SE-facing slope, overlooked by rising ground to the N. It stands at around 20m above sea level.

A single evaluation trench dug across the western part of the enclosure in 1990-1991 showed that the enclosure ditch is 0.7m wide and 0.3m deep, with evidence for at least two phases of ditch-cutting. It also demonstrated the presence of pits in the enclosure interior; three small pits and two wide pits were identified, all containing high proportions of charcoal and wood ash. The human bone recovered from one of the smaller pits indicates that this site may have been a prehistoric cremation cemetery, either enclosed by the palisade trench or of a different date to the enclosure.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The monument was first scheduled in 1998, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to knowledge and understanding of prehistoric enclosures in eastern Scotland. The survival of a ditched enclosure with clear evidence for internal features is rare in its regional context. The monument is particularly unusual because there is potential for a development sequence encompassing prehistoric burial and settlement/agricultural activity. The cropmarks, complemented by trial excavation, demonstrate that the enclosure has high potential for complex archaeological remains, including cremation burials. Extensive archaeological fieldwork has revealed details of extensive prehistoric settlement in the immediate vicinity, with the evidence preserved in archaeological reports and archives. The importance of the monument is greatly enhanced by its association with the wider landscape of prehistoric settlement in this part of NE Fife, an important concentration of evidence for social and economic change in eastern Scotland between around 2000 BC and AD 1000. Our understanding of the distribution and character of prehistoric enclosures and funerary sites would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

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Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.