east-lothian-1924/05-146

Transcription

NORTH BERWICK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [NORTH BERWICK.

ENCLOSURES.

110. Walled Enclosures and Kitchen Middens,
[marginal note]
See A.O. Curle ,
The Prehistoric
Monuments of
Scotland (Rhind
lectures , 1918)
- typescript in Aber-
deen Unis. Library
(No. NO 2006) ,
p. 148.
North Berwick Law.-Barely a mile to the
south of North Berwick is North Berwick Law,
a conical mass of basalt, rising to a height of
613 feet above sea-level and about 400 feet
above the level land adjoining. A great part
of its surface is rocky and steep, but towards
the south and south-west, near the base, are
stretches of gentle grassy slopes with numerous
small terraces or benches above, which are
faced with rock. Many of these benches seem
to have been walled in to form enclosures
either for human habitation or for cattle or
sheep-folds ; others show traces of walls on
the ends and lower sides only, and some are
slightly excavated on the upper side as well.
As they are commanded by the higher ground
above, they can not have been for defensive
purposes. On the south-western shoulder of
the hill, about 100 feet above the road which
gives access to the Law, on a moderate grassy
slope, are two adjoining rectangular enclosures
walled on the ends and along the lower side
and slightly excavated on the upper side.
The walls have been of stone, but these have
nearly disappeared, and the remains are over-
grown with grass. They are placed end to end,
the longer axis running north-west and south-
east. The larger enclosure lies to the south-east
and measures 33 feet in length by 25 feet in
breadth. It is entered by a gap, 6 feet wide, in
the south-eastern end. The wall at present
shows a width of about 7 feet and rises only a
few inches above ground. At the south-western
corner a flat stone set on edge seems to indicate
the outer face of the wall at this place. A
doorway, 4 feet wide, in the north-western
end, leads into the smaller enclosure, which is
22 feet in length by 15 feet in breadth, the
excavated north-eastern side of both enclosures
being in line. Several slabs set on edge on the
south-western or lower side show the line of
the wall. Near the north-western corner a
small part of the end wall is exposed and shows
several courses of flat stones carefully built.
On a higher bench on the southern side of
the hill, three roughly circular areas, walled
with stone, lie close to one another in a line
running in an easterly and westerly direction.
The most easterly enclosure is some 18 feet
in diameter internally, the next is 27 feet in

72

diameter, and the third, which is oval, is 33
feet by 27 feet. On the southern arc of the
latter a portion showing both faces of wall
near the foundation measures 4 1/2 feet in breadth.
To the westward, about the same level, is a
roughly quadrilateral area, 18 to 20 feet across,
enclosed by a setting of seven stones, which
vary from 5 feet to 1 foot 10 inches in length
and are set on the long edge. The entrance,
6 feet wide, seems to have been in the eastern
wall.
Along the southern base of the Law, between
the rocky outcrops and the large quarry that
skirts the hill on this side, is a gentle slope
covered with a luxuriant growth of grass.
Many stone foundations of large and small
enclosures can be traced here, and the lower
part of the slope is covered with kitchen
middens containing very many animal bones
and shells of the limpet and whelk.1
Where the ground has been tirred prepara-
tory to quarrying, great numbers of bones of
animals are seen in the face of the cutting.
One section above the rock of the quarry shows
18 inches of reddish stony soil covered with a
stratum of broken stone 6 inches thick, above
which is a layer 1 1/2 feet at least of dark soil.
This intermediate band of stone extends pro-
bably 30 or 40 yards east and west, and the
question is whether it is a geological formation
or a human floor. The stone is the same as
in the quarry. Under this floor a number of
bones were seen, including the scapula of an
animal.

1 See further Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. xli.
(1906-7) pp. 424-30.
ii. S.E. 11 November 1913.

111. Rock Shelter.-At a point in the cliff
between the Yellow Man and Leckmoram Ness,
where the rock overhangs and is indented, a
slightly curved wall can be traced forming a
shelter.

iii. N.W. 11 November 1913.

CAIRN.

112. Cairn, West Links, North Berwick.-In a
bunker between the 12th and 13th holes on the
West Golf Course at North Berwick are the
remains of a cairn, which has been about 18