Description

This is a group of at least two shieling huts and one burnt mound. The shielings are situated on a promontory above the burn which flows between Auld Taggart and Brown Hill. Another structure, possibly also a shieling lies on a slope 100m to the NW. The burnt mound is situated in a gully between these. It is 5.5m by 3.7m and 0.3m high and has a hollow which opens onto the gully on the N. On the NW a low bank extends 2m to the W. There are a further three shielings 100m to the SW. The area proposed for scheduling is a rectangle with its SE corner the W corner of Brown Hill Plantation and extending 250m due N and 150m due W.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This group of monuments is of national importance because of its potential for illuminating, through excavation, the functions of two monument types. It displays a rare close association between medieval shielings and a burnt mound. Because two of the six burnt mounds in the immediate area have been dated to the early second millennium AD, a functional relationship, rather than mere geographical association, between shielings and mounds is a distinct possibility, and investigation of this holds the potential to shed light upon the functions of both monument types.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NX 16 NE 37 and 52.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland