Scheduled Monument
Stanhope, fort, scooped settlement and enclosed settlements SW ofSM2675
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
- 17/07/1968
- Last Date Amended
- 15/11/1999
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: enclosure (domestic or defensive, rather than ritual or funerary); fort (includes hill fort and promontory fort); scooped settlement; settlement (if not assigned to any more specific type)
- Local Authority
- Scottish Borders
- Parish
- Drumelzier
- NGR
- NT 11998 29527
- Coordinates
- 311998, 629527
Description
The monument comprises a fort and two enclosed settlements of prehistoric date, visible as a series of upstanding earthworks and low walls. The monument was first scheduled in 1968, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains. The present rescheduling rectifies this.
The monument lies on the N slope of Laigh Hill, between about 220m OD and 270m OD. The fort measures about 130m E-W by about 120m transversely overall. It is defined by three walls, all of which now appear as low bands of rubble, and the outermost of which is followed for most of its extent by a ruined plantation dyke. The innermost wall measures about 4m wide and encloses a roughly circular area measuring about 50m E-W by about 45m transversely. The medial wall measures about 3m wide. It does not follow exactly the course of the inner wall. At places it comes to within 1m of the inner wall, while on the E and NNW there is a gap of some 15m between the two. Both walls have a number of facing stones visible, particularly on the S. The outer wall measures about 2.5m wide and is surrounded on the S and W sides by an external ditch and rampart. The NE sector of the outer wall has been removed to make way for a scooped settlement of later date. The entrance to the fort is on the NW. Within the fort there are eleven house platforms measuring between about 6m and 10m in diameter. Nine of them are within the perimeter of the innermost wall, and two lie between the medial and outermost walls on the W and N. The scooped settlement overlying the outer wall on the NE covers an area measuring about 40m in diameter. It consists of a number of low stony banks and scarps, and contains at least one house platform.
Immediately to the N of the fort is an enclosed settlement measuring about 40m E-W by about 19m transversely, defined by a wall now visible as a low bank measuring about 4m wide. Within the interior are two circular house platforms measuring about 6m and 5m in diameter respectively.
About 20m to the NNE of the enclosed settlement is another, oval-shaped enclosed settlement measuring about 40m WNW-ESE by about 25m transversely. It is defined by a low stony bank in which several outer facing stones are visible. The entrance, on the N, is about 1.5m wide and is revetted on either side by an earthfast boulder.
The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to be found. It is irregular with maximum dimensions of 200m N-S by 145m E-W, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
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.
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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).
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