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THE COUNTY OF
SELKIRK
[Photograph inserted]
Royal Commission
on Ancient Monuments
of Scotland |
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IN THEIR Inventory of the Ancient
Monuments of Selkirkshire the Com-
missioners carry a step further their
survey of the Border region, follow-
ing their two-volume work on
Roxburghshire published in 1956
and a smaller book on Berwick-
shire published in 1915. The material
has been treated in the same manner
as was adopted in Roxburghshire,
and in particular the air-photo-
graphs of the whole area were
scrutinised for traces of earthwork
monuments invisible to observers
on the ground. An introduction
is provided to illustrate the his-
torical background and to discuss
the wider significance of the archae-
ological matter; and further, as
Selkirkshire and Roxburghshire are
linked by important ties of simi-
larity, part of the introduction to
the Roxburghshire survey is
reprinted in the form of an appendix.
The interests of the general reader
as well as of the expert have been
constantly kept in mind.
Price £3 7s. 6d. |
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[Note]
67[3]
A1. INV/15
[Crossed out]
[Initialled] W.D. |
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Selkirkshire |
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[Photograph inserted]
Fig. I. Orans figure from Over Kirkhope (No. 65).
Photo National Museum of Antiquities.
Frontispiece. |
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[Coat of Arms]
THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE
ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND
AN INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT
AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF
SELKIRKSHIRE
WITH THE FIFTEENTH REPORT
OF THE COMMISSION
[Note]
941
465
[Stamped]
May 1963
R2295 HMSO 77/6
PUBLIC LIBRARIES
EDINBURGH: HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE
1957 |
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Crown copyright reserved
Published by
HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE
To be purchased from
13A Castle Street, Edinburgh 2
York House, Kingsway, London W.C.2
423 Oxford Street, London W.1
109 St. Mary Street, Cardiff
39 King Street, Manchester 2
Tower Lane, Bristol 1
2 Edmund Street, Birmingham 3
80 Chichester Street, Belfast
or through any bookseller
Price £3, 7s. 6d. net
Printed in Great Britain under the Authority of HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE
by T. and A. CONSTABLE LTD., Edinburgh |
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CONTENTS
--PAGE
LIST OF PLANS AND ILLUSTRATIONS -- vi
ROYAL WARRANT -- x
FIFTEENTH REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION -- xi
LIST OF MONUMENTS WHICH THE COMMISSIONERS DEEM MOST WORTHY OF
PRESERVATION -- xiii
LIST OF MONUMENTS DISCOVERED DURING THE SURVEY OF MARGINAL LANDS (1951-5) -- xiv
REGISTER OF MONUMENTS IN SELKIRKSHIRE BY PARISHES -- xix
ABBREVIATED TITLES OF REFERENCES -- xxi
EDITORIAL NOTES -- xxiv
INTRODUCTION TO THE INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF SELKIRK-
SHIRE -- 1
INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF SELKIRKSHIRE -- 31
APPENDICES:
A. The Catrail or Picts' Work Ditch -- 126
B. Armorial -- 128
C. Reprint of Part II of the Introduction to the Inventory of Roxburghshire -- 129
GLOSSARY -- 173
INDEX -- 177
a* -- v |
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LIST OF PLANS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. NO. -- TITLE -- PAGE
1 Orans figure from Over Kirkhope (No. 65) -- Frontispiece
2 Selkirkshire, showing areas added and detached by the Boundary Commission of 1891 -- 1
3 The Forest of Ettrick -- 6
4 Distribution map of Bronze Age monuments -- 17
5 Distribution map of Early Iron Age and Roman monuments -- 19
6 Elibank Castle (No. 13) -- 36
7 Whytebank Tower (No. 16) -- 38
8 Torwoodlee Tower (No. 18) -- 39
9 Torwoodlee (No. 19) -- 40
10 Old Gala House (No. 20) -- 42
11 Fairnilee (No. 21) -- 44
12 Yair (No. 22) -- 46
13 Selkirk Castle (No. 24) -- 48
14 The Haining (No. 25) -- 49
15 Motte, Howden (No. 26) -- 51
16 Oakwood Tower (No. 31) -- 53
17 Kirkhope Tower (No. 32) -- 55
18 Tushielaw Tower and associated buildings (No. 33) -- 56
19 Motte, Phenzhopehaugh (No. 34) -- 57
20 Thirlestane House (No. 36) -- 58
21 Gamescleugh Tower (No. 37) -- 59
22 Dryhope Tower (No. 40) -- 60
23 Blackhouse Tower (No. 41) -- 61
24 Newark Castle (No. 44); site plan -- 62
25 Newark Castle (No. 44) -- 63
FIG. NO. -- TITLE -- PLATE
26 Motte, Howden (No. 26) from S. -- I
27 Elibank Castle (No. 13) from SSW. -- II
28 Torwoodlee Tower (No. 18) from E. -- III
29 Old Gala House (No. 20) from SE. -- IV
30 Fairnilee (No. 21) from S. -- V
31 Oakwood Tower (No. 31) from NW. -- VI
32 -- hall fireplace -- VII
33 -- entrance -- VII
34 -- risp on entrance door -- VII
35 -- from SW. -- VIII
-- vi |
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INTRODUCTION: GENERAL
though without success; and 12 years later, when
Robert Scott, stocking-weaver and wool-comber,
proposed to set up in the burgh, the Council re-
sponded to his request for help by providing a house
for him, feeling that his settlement there would be
for the good of the town. ¹ By the end of the century
the writer of the Statistical Account of Scotland was
able to report the establishment of an incle ² manu-
factory employing fifty hands, a stocking manu-
factory on a small scale and a tannery near by. ³ There
was little change at the time of the New Statistical
Account, which mentions a fulling mill but reports
that the incle manufactory has ceased. ⁴ It was only in
the years immediately following this that the influx
of manufacturers from Galashiels brought an import-
ant mechanised textile trade to the burgh. ⁵
1 Ibid., sub anno.
2 A kind of linen tape, or thread from which this is made.
3 Stat. Acct., ii (1792), 438 f.
4. THE BURGH OF GALASHIELS
Galashiels, the only other burgh in the county, has
not the antiquity of Selkirk. Originally a forest stead,
it formed part of the estates of the Pringle family in
the 16th century and was created a burgh of barony
in 1599. ⁶ In 1632 it passed with other Pringle pro-
perty to the Scotts of Gala, who retained their
superiority of the burgh until 1850. The rise of
modern Galashiels, however, is due almost entirely
to the establishment there of the woollen cloth in-
dustry at the end of the 18th century, the Gala Water
providing power for the mills. The town expanded
rapidly in the following century and became a
Parliamentary burgh in 1868.
4 N.S.A., iii (Selkirkshire), 4.
5 Craig-Brown. Selkirkshire, ii, 178 ff.
6 Ibid., i, 484.
[Page] 14 |
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PART II . THE MONUMENTS
Throughout the prehistoric period, and indeed well
into historic times, Selkirkshire was, by virtue of its
geographical position, poor soil and uncongenial
climate a remote and relatively unimportant back-
water. Hemmed in on three sides by an almost con-
tinuous chain of mountains and high moorland, whose
few natural outlets were of little account until the
modern high-way system was laid down, the greater
part of the region was in fact virtually a cul-de-sac
only easily accessible from the east. Under these
circumstances it is not surprising that structural
remains earlier in date than the Middle Ages are com-
paratively few in number, and are mainly to be found
in the more fertile uplands at the E. end of the county,
where, in the absence of any physical barrier corre-
sponding with the present administrative dividing-
line, they form an integral part of the W. Roxburgh-
shire series. The cultural unity embracing the adjacent
areas of both counties in t he early times makes it un-
necessary to repeat here what has recently been stated
at length in the Inventory of Roxburghshire regarding
the background against which the prehistoric,,
Roman and Dark Age monuments must in turn be
viewed; in the following introductory articles under
these heads attention is accordingly focussed for the
most part on the purely local significance of the
remains, while Part II of the Introduction to the
Inventory of Roxburghshire is reproduced in Appendix
C to illustrate their general setting. The sections that
deal with the mediaeval and later with their Roxburghshire
counterparts in the same Appendix
I. THE BRONZE AGE
(i) Cairns, ETC.
Although the small groups of food-gatherers who represent
the first colonists of Selkirkshire were
established in the county round about the end of the
third millennium B.C; (1) no structures attributable to
these peoples. or to the succeeding Neolithic agr-
cultural communities, have so far been recognised in
the county; and the earliest monuments that come
within the scope of this Inventory are three, or pos-
sibly four, short cists, and eleven round cairns, (2) all of
which may be ascribed with certainty or probability
to earlier phases of the Bronze Age (circa 1700)-
1200 B.C.) A date within the same general limits
would also be appropriate fort he single standing
stones Nos. 171, 172 and 173, the stone setting on
Bught Rig (No. 203)and the unenclosed stone-walled
hut circles at Kirkstead (No. 132), Dryhope (No.
133), and Cavers Hill (No. 134), if it was certain that
the structures in question were prehistoric, but their
status is as present undetermined. The standing
stones, all of which are of modest size, may in fact be
nothing more than mediaeval boundary- marks, as
on Woll Rig ( No. 170), or landmarks erected for the
guidance of drovers or local herds, while the frag-
mentary and disturbed condition of the setting on
Bught Rig precludes any decision as to its origin or
purpose in the absence of excavation. And whereas
unenclosed round huts superficially similar to those
at Dryhope and Kirkstead are known to have been
inhabited in the Early Bronze Age, (3) this primitive
type of dwelling had a long life and appears to have
remained in use in SE. Scotland at least until the
Middle Ages. (4)
The only relic recovered from any of the cist burials
is a Food Vessel from the old churchyard at Gala
shiels No. 165), and likewise little information is
available regarding the contents of the cairns. The
fragments of pottery found on the floor of the cairn
on Easterhill Head ( NO. 63), which covered a cist,
cannot now be traced, although several cup-marked |
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PART II . THE MONUMENTS
Throughout the prehistoric period, and indeed well
into historic times, Selkirkshire was, by virtue of its
geogrpahical position, poor soil and uncongenial
climate a remote and relatively unimportant back-
water. Hemmed in on three sides by an almost con-
tinuous chain of mountains and high moorland, whose
few natural outlets were of little account until the
modern high-way system was laid down, the greater
part of the region was in fact virtually a cul-de-sac
only easily accessible from the east. Under these
circumstances it is not surprising that structural
remains earlier in date than the Middle Ages are com-
paratively few in number, and are mainly to be found
in the more fertile uplands at the E. end of the county,
where, in the absence of any physical barrier corre-
sponding with the present administrative dividing-
line, they form an integral part of the W. Roxburgh-
shire series. The cultural unity embracing the adjacent
areas of both counties in t he early times makes it un-
necessary to repeat here what has recently been stated
at length in the Inventory of Roxburghshire regarding
the background against which the prehistoric,,
Roman and Dark Age monuments must in turn be
viewed; in the following introductory articles under
these heads attention is accordingly focussed for the
most part on the purely local significance of the
remains, while Part II of the Introduction to the
Inventory of Roxburghshire is reproduced in Appendix
C to illustrate their general setting. The sections that
deal with the mediaeval and later with their Roxburghshire
counterparts in the same Appendix
I. THE BRONZE AGE
(i) Cairns, ETC.
Although the small groups of food-gatherers who represent
the first colonists of Selkirkshire were
established in the county round about the end of the
third millennium B.C; (1) no structures attributable to
these peoples. or to the succeeding Neolithic agr-
cultural communities, have so far been recognised in
the county; and the earliest monuments that come
within the scope of this Inventory are three, or pos-
sibly four, short cists, and eleven round cairns, (2) all of
which may be ascribed with certainty or probablity
to earlier phases of the Bronze Age (circa 1700)-
1200 B.C.) A date within the same general limits
would also be appropriate fort he single standing
stones Nos. 171, 172 and 173, the stone setting on
Bught Rig (No. 203)and the unenclosed stone-walled
hut circles at Kirkstead (No. 132), Dryhope (No.
133), and Cavers Hill (No. 134), if it was certain that
the structures in question were prehistoric, but their
status is as present undetermined. The standing
stones, all of which are of modest size, may in fact be
nothing more than mediaeval boundary- marks, as
on Woll Rig ( No. 170), or landmarks erected for the
guidance of drovers or local herds, while the frag-
mentary and disturbed condition of the setting on
Bught Rig precludes any decision as to its origin or
purpose in the absence of excavation. And whereas
unenclosed round huts superficially similar to those
at Dryhope and Kirkstead are known to have been
inhabited in the Early Bronze Age, (3) this primitive
type of dwelling had a long life and appears to have
remained in use in SE. Scotland at least until the
Middle Ages. (4)
The only relic recovered from any of the cist burials
is a Food Vessel from the old churchyard at Gala
shiels No. 165), and likewise little information is
available regarding the contents of the cairns. The
fragments of pottery found on the floor of the cairn
on Easterhill Head ( NO. 63), which covered a cist,
cannot now be traced, although several cup-marked |
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