Description

The monument comprises the remains of a circular enclosure, interpreted as a henge, a ritual and ceremonial site likely to date to the Neolithic period (sometime between 4500 BC to 2500 BC). The monument is visible as a cropmark captured on oblique aerial photographs and survives as buried remains below the plough soil. The substantial ditch is approximately 5m wide and encloses a circular space approximately 20m in diameter. A break in the NE arc of the ditch is probably an entrance. A number of smaller features can be seen in the henge interior and immediately to the SE, which probably represent pits or burials. The monument is located on fairly flat, low-lying arable land to the N of the River Eden, at 45m above sea level. The monument was first scheduled in 1997, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, 70m in diameter, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as a relatively rare type of prehistoric ritual monument, with the potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of ritual structures and the nature of ceremony and belief in Neolithic Scotland. The monument appears to be well preserved below the plough soil, with its structural footprint intact, and important archaeological features and deposits are likely to survive to a marked degree. In particular, the fills of the ditch and other features are likely to preserve significant information about the date, design and construction of the henge, its duration of use, and the nature of the activities which took place here. The site may also preserve palaeoenvironmental information which can enhance our understanding of the climate, vegetation and land use when the enclosure was built and in use. If this monument was lost or damaged, our understanding of the distribution, character and significance of henges would be diminished.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO20NE 31.

References

Harding, A F and Lee, G E 1987, Henge monuments and related sites of Great Britain: air photographic evidence and catalogue, Brit Archaeol Rep 175, 354, no 252.

RCAHMS 1994, South-east Perth: an archaeological landscape, Edinburgh, 39, fig A.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland