Scheduled Monument
Leys, homestead 400m NW ofSM8580
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
- 08/11/1999
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: enclosure (domestic or defensive, rather than ritual or funerary); hut circle, roundhouse
- Local Authority
- Aberdeenshire
- Parish
- Logie-Coldstone
- NGR
- NJ 46175 03121
- Coordinates
- 346175, 803121
Description
The Monument comprises the remains of a later prehistoric homestead which is probably between about 3500 and 2000 years old. It stands on a knoll in Knockargety Wood.
The homestead consists of a circular enclosure attached to a hut circle. The enclosure is marked by a roughly circular stone wall, about 1.5m wide with a gap about 0.5m wide in the SW which may have been an entrance. The enclosure has a diameter of around 18m. There are three heaps of stone in the interior of the enclosure which may represent later field clearance. The hut circle is attached to the N of the enclosure and is a continuous circular stone bank with no apparent entrance. It is about 10m in diameter.
The area to be scheduled measures 70m N-S by 55m E-W, to include the circular enclosure, the hut circle and an area around in which traces of activity associated with their construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map extract.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance for its potential to contribute to an understanding of later prehistoric settlement and domestic life. The form of the settlement, with a hut circle attached to an enclosure, is unusual. In addition, the homestead lies within 800m of a probable unfinished hillfort and near other broadly contemporary settlement remains. Taken together with these remains, the monument has the potential to enhance our understanding of the nature of later prehistoric settlement in this part of Deeside in particular, as well as throughout Scotland.
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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