Description

The monument comprises the remains of curvilinear enclosure, interpreted as a settlement of later prehistoric date, and visible as cropmarks in cultivated land. The monument is located at between 110m and 115m above sea level on a N-facing slope 950m SE of the Eye Water and 2km inland from the E coast.

Cropmarks represent negative archaeological features, the fills of which retain more moisture than the surrounding subsoil, resulting in the enhanced growth of the crops above. The visible traces of the settlement consist of lengths of a single curving ditch forming a sub-circular enclosure that measures around 75m WSW-ENE by 55m transversely. The ditch is up to 2m in width with several breaks, at least one of which, on the E side of the circuit, is likely a remnant entrance.

The area to be scheduled is irregular in plan, to include the remains described and an area around within which evidence relating to their construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

The monument survives well as clearly visible marks within arable cultivation on a series of aerial photographs taken between 1986 and 2005. The monument is a good, and unusually large, example of an enclosed settlement, the form of which indicates that it is of later prehistoric date. The monument has an inherent potential to inform our knowledge of later prehistoric settlement form and architectural style and function.

The enclosure ditch and other associated negative features are likely to contain archaeologically significant deposits and artefacts, which have an inherent potential to inform our understanding of the economic, social and ritual practices of the contemporary occupants. Artefactual evidence can further our knowledge of activities and practices at the settlement and inform our understanding of trade and other contact between indigenous peoples from within the region or those from further afield, such as the incoming Romans.

It is likely that a bank of up cast would have been created by the digging of the ditch and potential exists for survival of a buried soil beneath any remaining vestiges of this bank, or any other features constructed over the contemporary landscape. These buried land surfaces have a great potential to inform our knowledge of the environment within which the monument was constructed. Soils may also survive within the lengths of ditch and these will also provide evidence of the environment at time of construction, habitation and abandonment.

Contextual characteristics

The monument is located on a N-facing slope of the valley of the Eye Water, 950m to the north-west. There are good views to the north, west and sout-west and to the coast around 2km to the east.

The valley of the Eye Water is noted for the particular concentration of prehistoric monuments, mostly preserved as cropmarks within the predominantly arable landscape. It is evident that the monument forms an integral part of long-established settlement in later prehistory in this region. Comparing and contrasting evidence from all these sites would considerably enhance our understanding of land use, the history of settlement pattern and social interaction within this region. Our knowledge of later prehistoric economy and social structure as well as domestic and ritual practice are also likely to be considerably enhanced by the study of this monument within the context of this group of features.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to contribute to an understanding of the past, in particular the construction, use and abandonment of enclosed settlement in later prehistory. Further, the monument has the potential to inform an understanding of domestic settlement pattern of this period and archaeological deposits preserved within features of the monument may provide information about the society that created and used it. The monument also retains the potential to contribute to our knowledge of the environment within which it was built. The loss of the monument would significantly impair our capacity to interpret and understand later prehistoric settlement, society, economy and networks of contact within this region of lowland Scotland and its place within the wider national and international context.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as Flemington Field Boundary, Settlement NT96SW 68. The Scottish Borders Council SMR records the monument as 1020032.

Aerial photographs:

RCAHMS (1983) NT96SW 68, Flemington, enclosure and linear cropmarks BW 4790.

RCAHMS (1986) NT96SW 68, Flemington, enclosure; linear cropmarks A 29057.

RCAHMS (1986) NT96SW 68, Flemington, enclosure and linear cropmarks A 29383.

RCAHMS (1999) NT96SW 68, 24, 383, 383.01 Flemington, enclosure; field boundaries, enclosure (possible); linear cropmarks. West Flemington farmsteading; farm house D.57781.

RCAHMS (2005) NT96SW 68, 383 Flemington, settlement; field boundaries. West Flemington Farmhouse E52181.

References:

Dent J and McDonald R 1997, EARLY SETTLERS IN THE BORDERS, Scottish Borders Council.

RCAHMS 1980b, THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS OF BERWICKSHIRE DISTRICT, BORDERS REGION, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Scotland Series. Edinburgh, No. 10, 29, No. 233.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland