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Witchcleuch Burn

Farmstead(S) (Medieval) - (18th Century)

Site Name Witchcleuch Burn

Classification Farmstead(S) (Medieval) - (18th Century)

Canmore ID 59301

Site Number NT82NW 39

NGR NT 8452 2683

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/59301

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Scottish Borders, The
  • Parish Yetholm
  • Former Region Borders
  • Former District Roxburgh
  • Former County Roxburghshire

Activities

Field Visit (29 May 1947)

Farmsteads, Witchcleuch Burn.

In rough pasture on the right bank of the Witchcleuch Burn, a quarter of a mile ESE of Halterburn farm and at a height of 600ft OD, there is a complex of structures and enclosures a little over three acres in extent. The remains, which are best understood by reference to the plan (RCAHMS 1956, fig.595), are difficult to interpret in detail owing to damage resulting from stone-robbery and drainage, but two units, probably belonging to different periods, can be distinguished.

The smaller unit, which is likely to be the later of the two, is represented by a three-roomed cottage (J), now reduced to its foundation-course of large boulders, with which are associated the garth (II) and a small outhouse (K). This unit is typical of the small crofts whose remains occur frequently on the lower slopes of the Cheviot foot-hills, and of which some appear from Stobie's map of Roxburghshire to have been occupied as late as 1770. The larger unit consists of a trapezoidal enclosure, measuring over all 115 yds. from E to W by 103yds from N to S and surrounded by a bank which is accompanied on the N and E sides by an external ditch. On these latter sides the bank (I) formed of ditch-upcast, measures up to 15ft in thickness at the base by 2ft 2ins in height, while the ditch averages 14ft in width at the top, 8ft at the bottom, and 2ft 3ins in depth. In spite of their substantial size, the bank and ditch are clearly not defensive in the military sense; they were presumably designed, probably with the addition of a palisade or hedge on the crest of the bank, either to fence in stock or to protect crops grown within the enclosure from being ravaged by beasts grazing in the open ground outside. Both bank and ditch die out on the curve at the NW corner and, if they ever existed on the W side, they must have been entirely obliterated. The limit of the enclosure on this side is indicated, however, by a slighter bank which first appears on the lip of the counterscarp of the ditch at the corner and, after a short break due to drainage-ditching, extends S to the NE corner of the later garth (II). On the S side the edge of the steep gully drained by the Witchcleuch Burn provides a natural boundary and no ditch was required here; a short segment of bank at the W end of the bluff may possibly be original, but elsewhere on this side the bank has been faced with drystone and may therefore be presumed to be secondary. One entrance to the enclosure, 15ft wide is situated in the centre of the N side, while there may have been a second at the SE corner leading to the burn. Within the interior, which falls 70ft from E to W., the foundations of six buildings (C-H) can be traced; the largest of these (C) measures 33ft by 25ft within a stony bank from 5ft to 13ft thick, and may have been either a single- roomed cottage or a tower. Its entrance, in the E wall, opens into a small garth (L) which is bounded by a boulder-faced earthen bank with a ditch on its outer side. Two parallel ditches in the NE quarter (M and N), with upcast banks on one or other of their lips, closely resemble the enclosure ditch, but their purpose is obscure. The only other internal features of interest are a large rectangular scooped floor (A) at the SE corner, and a smaller circular scoop in the curve of the opposite corner.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 29 May 1947.

Field Visit (24 November 1967)

NT82NW 39 8452 2683.

Generally as described and planned by the Commission.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(RD) 24 November 1967.

Sbc Note

Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.

Information from Scottish Borders Council

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