Scheduled Monument
Enclosed settlement, 570m NNW of TonnachraeSM7470
Status: Designated
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.
Summary
- Date Added
- 05/10/1999
- Last Date Amended
- 04/03/2024
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: enclosure (domestic or defensive, rather than ritual or funerary); palisaded settlement
- Local Authority
- Dumfries And Galloway
- Planning Authority
- Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish
- Inch
- NGR
- NX 13018 59259
- Coordinates
- 213018, 559259
Description
The monument comprises the buried remains of an enclosed settlement dating to the Iron Age (800 BC – AD 400), visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs. The enclosure is defined by an infilled ditch, with evidence of an internal palisade and a round house. The monument lies in arable farmland at around 22m above sea level.
The enclosure is oval, measuring 54m from north to south by 58m across, within an external ditch measuring approximately of 5.5m wide. There are breaks in this ditch to the east measuring 6m and to the west-southwest measuring 7m, which may be evidence of entrances. An internal ditch measuring up to 0.8m wide is likely evidence of a palisade trench. This follows the northern arc of the external ditch with breaks to the north-northeast and east-southeast. A dark area approximately 18m wide is located within the enclosure and indicates the presence of further archaeological deposits, likely the remains of a roundhouse.
The scheduled area is a circle 80m in diameter. It includes the remains described above and an area around within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. It excludes all above ground elements of the existing post and wire fencing.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance as it makes a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past, or has the potential to do so as a prehistoric enclosed settlement. The monument is an important indicator of later prehistoric settlement and associated activity in southwest Scotland. It retains structural field characteristics in buried stratigraphic layers demonstrated by crop marks and has research potential which could significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past and specifically, information about the changing nature of settlement, agriculture, economy and population during later prehistoric period.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
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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