Description

The monument comprises the remains of a ring-ditch house of later prehistoric date.

The monument lies on a more gently sloping area on the S-facing slopes of Castlelaw Hill at around 315m OD. It comprises a sub-circular ring ditch 12m in overall diameter. The ditch is formed of a series of shallow scoops of up to 2.5m breadth. There is a probable entrance on the SE where one of the scoops turns outward and extends about 4.5m beyond the presumed line of the house wall.

Ring ditches such as this represent the remains of former timber roundhouses of a type characteristic of the later prehistoric period. The area to be scheduled encompasses the visible remains and an area around them in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive. It is circular with a diameter of 50m as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to our understanding of later prehistoric domestic settlement. It may be expected to contain information relating to house construction, and the organisation of domestic activities.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT 26 SW 44.

References:

Hill, P. H. (1982) 'Settlement and chronology' (ibid).

Reynolds, D. M. (1982) 'Aspects of later prehistoric timber construction in SE Scotland' in Harding, D. W. (ed), Later Prehistoric Settlement in SE Scotland, University of Edinburgh, Dept to Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. 8, Edinburgh, 44-56, 48.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland