Documents

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The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM4544_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600010459)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises at least five prehistoric settlements, pre-improvement settlement and isolated houses, enclosures, field systems and cairns, a four poster stone circle, ring cairns and two Medieval stone bank figures.

To the west is a dispersed group of three simple embanked round houses on platforms, one overlain by a pre-improvement house and enclosure. A field bank within this settlement makes a semi-circle detour as if to avoid a no longer visible structure.

Near the middle of the ridge are three houses of Dalrulzion type. Two of them form a close knit pair and the third is 50m to the east. To the north east are two possible ring cairns, one with traces of kerb, and to the N a four-poster. 150m further east is another pair of Dalrulzion type houses, one overlain by a simple embanked round house and seemingly later than a partially preserved round house. The latter also underlies a complicated group of embanked round houses seemingly of three periods. Some 10m further east is a small ring cairn with internal and external kerbs. 15m to the SE again is a similar, but kerbless, ring cairn.

On the SE slope of the hill are at least five round houses on platforms scooped into the side of the hill. Two at least have boulder banks edging their upper rims, and most have banks edging their lower rims. One is overlain by a pre-improvement house and another by a small building.

On the south side of the ridge are pre-improvement settlements including at least fifteen separate structural complexes, a patch of medium rig, and field walls. Three of the complexes overlie prehistoric houses. The complexes include both small and large houses, one of the latter has a probable kiln at the west end, and two separate enclosures. At least one of the longer house complexes is multiperiod. 370m west of the summit of Strone Hill is the Abbots Cross. It consists of stone banks forming an equal armed cross. Roughly 120m S of this is a hillside figure constructed in the same way consisting of a long cross bar with a vertical member running up hill from its centre, and two stone banks of similar length depending roughly at the quarter points of the cross bar.

The field banks include at least nine elements running NS parallel to each other at irregular intervals, joining with curvilinear elements. There are fragments of at least four banks running NW. There are 129 or more small cairns in the area proposed for scheduling.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as an extraordinarily rich and varied prehistoric and pre-improvement landscape. It includes a prehistoric platform settlement, and Dalrulzion and simple embanked round houses in stratigraphical relationship to each other. Near both pairs of Dalrulzion type houses are pairs of ring cairns, and by one of the latter is a small four-poster stone circle.

The one certain and three probable ring cairns are of national importance to studies of later prehistoric funerary monuments, and are of particular interest because without the kerbed example and the similarity (except for lack of a well defined kerb on the other three) the latter might well have been dismissed as a partly robbed clearance cairn. Only one other ring cairn has been recognised in Angus, at Meams. This example is much larger, and their apparent absence may be due to difficulty in distinguishing them from robbed cairns.

The prehistoric part of the site therefore includes domestic, funerary and ritual elements and is of national importance to studies of later prehistoric house types, of social organisation, of the relationship between funerary and domestic structures, of the date and purpose of four-poster stone circles, and of the history of agriculture.

The pre-improvement settlements include structures ranging from well built stone walled multi-cameral houses and well built free standing enclosures, through turf and stone built farm complexes with attached enclosures, to small isolated turf and stone unicameral structures. Their propinquity will allow comparisons and contrasts, strengthened by the multiperiodicity of at least two of the larger houses. They are of national importance to studies of pre-improvement settlements.

The field banks may belong with the prehistoric or pre-improvement settlements. Their propinquity to both should allow comparative studies including pollen analysis, which may lead to their relative dating. Their similarities and differences to the open ended fields on Hill of Menmuir and the rectangular fields W of the White Caterthun, Balhall, make them of national importance to the studies of early agricultural systems in eastern Scotland.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.