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

  SM8646_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600013389)

Summary

Description

The monument is a complex of burial, ceremonial, settlement and agricultural remains of the prehistoric period, and settlement and agricultural remains of the early historic and pre-modern periods.

The monument includes 5 burial cairns, ranging from the remains of the Grey cairn, 27m in diameter and 1.7m high, to a ring cairn 6m in diameter and 0.3m high. Most have been disturbed in the 19th century. The burial monuments are complemented by the survival of a stone circle measuring some 7m in diameter, all the stones of which are prone or leaning. There is an outlying stone to the NNW.

The earliest settlement remains (dating to around 1000 BC) are represented by a vast complex of hut circles (some 15 included in the scheduled area) and range from single walled structures 10m in diameter to double-walled examples c. 20m across. There is a group of circles at the N edge of the area and further concentrations in the central part of the scheduled area and at the SW. Associated with the circles are numerous field banks and around 1000 small cairns, probably formed by clearing fields of stone.

In the northern and SE parts of the scheduled area are 5 'Pitcarmick-type' long buildings, dating from the first millennium AD, between 12m and 30m long and up to 8.5 m across. These buildings are associated with small yards.

The latest phases of settlement are represented by four isolated later rectangular buildings and two larger farmsteads abandoned by 1963, one with a limekiln.

The area to be scheduled is irregular in shape, and measures 1260m from its westernmost to its easternmost points, by 1100m from its northernmost to its southernmost points, to include the remains described above and an area around them in which other traces of human activity are likely to survive, as marked in red on the attached map.

The scheduled area skirts, and specifically excludes, the modern coniferous plantations. The present lines and extents of existing tracks across the monument are also specifically excluded from the scheduling, to allow access and maintenance.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as a very well preserved fragment of prehistoric agricultural landscape within which survive a considerable number of earlier burial cairns and a stone circle. The monument is also of importance because of the survival of evidence of later periods of intensive human use of the area, which have not caused significant damage to features of earlier periods.

The monument has the potential to enhance considerably not only our understanding of details of human settlement in the past, but also our application of the ways in which the landscape has been utilised and changed by its past inhabitants.

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.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

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.