Description

The site comprises three circular enclosures thought to be the remains of post-medieval stock control features. The remains are visible as obscured, turf-covered earthen features in a mature conifer plantation, located on southeast-facing slope below Ewe Hill at approximately 330m above sea level. 

The enclosures are approximately 140m apart and measure approximately 11m, 15m and 18m in diameter. Each is defined by a low circular earthen bank, partially impacted by later forestry ploughing and tree planting. In the southern pair of enclosures which are approximately 18m apart, one has a gap in its bank and the second has a concentric shallow groove in the top of its bank. The northern most example also has concentric shallow groove in the top of its bank. 

The form and location of these features are consistent with turf-walled sheepfolds and therefore, post-medieval in date, probably from the 18th and/or 19th centuries. 

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The culture significance of the site has been assessed as follows: 

Intrinsic Characteristics      

The monument was first recorded in 1962 when surveyors interpreted the remains as a group of four ring enclosures. The fourth, northern most example is now not visible. The site of this enclosure was removed from the amendment to the scheduling in 2021. These features were categorised chronologically among prehistoric classes of monument where '...a prehistoric date is suspected' but where no further interpretation specific to the enclosures was offered (RCAHMS 1966, pps v, 66, 58, 69). Later additions to the national record for the sites revised the interpretation to indicate a much later function as a group of post-medieval sheepfolds.

A review of the class of sites called 'ring enclosures' has clarified the likely origins and function of such enclosures showing that they are most likely to be post-medieval sheepfolds. Investigating the field characteristics of this example using historic mapping and airborne laser scanning shows that it has many features which identify this as a group of post medieval sheepfolds. The earthworks are generally sharp, indicative of a relatively recent date, although they have been damaged by forestry ploughing. All are annotated 'Old Sheepfold' on historic Ordnance Survey mapping, together with an adjacent rectangular example which again is visible in airborne laser scanning. This evidence strongly supports a post-medieval date and agricultural function – turf enclosures used to manage sheep on upland grazing. 

These remains are therefore relatively common features of post-medieval agricultural activity. They are simple turf and earth-built structures with relatively low archaeological potential. 

Contextual characteristics 

The monument (a group of three sheepfolds) is a component of a wider hill farming system, exploiting upland improved pasture between the Pentland Hills to the northwest and the Moorfoot Hills to the northeast. It is only partly representative of the agricultural activity taking place here and the wider regional distribution of similar earthen structures built for the management of livestock. 

It is not a rare survivor of its type and taken in isolation from the agricultural system to which it belongs, it has limited potential to help us understand how the wider landscape has developed.  

Associative characteristics 

No known associative character relating to this monument. 

National importance

The site does not meet the criterion of national importance for the following reasons: 

a. The monument, as a group of three post-medieval livestock enclosures, does not make a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past and does not have the potential to do so. The features are of a simple earth and turf, circular construction with limited archaeological potential in the buried soil layers.   

b. The monument is not a rare example of its class, with over 280 examples of ring enclosure (used to describe small circular enclosures of an agricultural nature defined by a turf or earthen bank) recorded in the national record and a local clustering of 13 examples known of within 5km of this location. There are an additional 3316 sheepfolds recorded which will include a wide variety of enclosures used to collect and control sheep. Some of these will include turf or earthen bank enclosures of a similar form to these examples. 

c. The monument does not have sufficient research potential with which to significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past. There is limited scientific, archaeological, historic or traditional, interest in this type of agricultural remains. 

d. As an isolated component of a wider agricultural system, the monument does not a significant contribution to today's landscape or our understanding of the historic landscape.      

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

National Record of the Historic Environment (NHRE) ID 51414: https://www.trove.scot/place/51414 (accessed on 05/11/2025).

Bradford, B., Connolly, D., Hawker-Yates, L., Kdolska, H., Paice, C., Scott, G., & Wiseman, R. (2020). Archaeology on Furlough: Sheepfolds of the Lammermuirs. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.60154.

RCAHMS 1967, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Peeblesshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments. The Stationery Office. Edinburgh.

RCAHMS 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape. The Stationery Office. Edinburgh.

trove.scot

https://www.trove.scot/place/51414/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland