gb0551ms-36-2-84

Transcription

[Page 84]
[Continued from page 82]

[Opposite page - text inserted] On the opposite side of the valley the sites of
forts Nos. 15 & 19 were in a corn field and there
was no sign of them in the crop. In the W. [West] corner
of the field were the remains of cairn which the farmer
at Penmanshiel told me he himself had excavated when
in want of large stones! He had found a cist but
it contained nothing. This I did not visit. He also
assured me that nothing was visible on site of
fort No. 14. As to site No. 18 he knew nothing.

South showed no signs of a fort but I was informed that whenever the field was ploughed coins were found. In the wood, however
the outline of a circular fort with a single stoney
& now insignificant mound & with a diameter from
crest to crest of about 120 ft. [feet] was still apparent. At the
farm the farmer engaged in entering a family of young
kittens to kill mice as a stack was being taken down,
received me kindly. In Penmanshiel wood near Sister
Path he showed me the ruins of wall running E [East]
& W. [West] 80 or 100 yds. [yards] S. [South] of the fort in the wood. He believed
it was traceable right across the Lammermoors!
Of the tumuli 16, 17, 20, & 21 there is of course now no
sign. “Winding Cairn” No. 15 in Coldingham Parish
shows a ring of piled up stones the remains of a large cairn
76 ft. [feet] or so in diameter, the interior of which has long
ago been entirely removed. The farmer gave me good
company to the cairn & back & set me on my road

Houndwood.
To Houndwood. Houndwood is a white harled
house much modernised though in great part
of considerable antiquity. Internally the
old portion still remains recognisable though a
modern front has been built on the N. [North] side.
The old house has been an oblong structure 83 ft. [feet]
in length and 21 ft. 8 ins. [21 feet 8 inches] in breadth externally, having
walls 4 ft. [feet] thick. There is a turnpike stair from
the basement in the N.E. [North East] corner and another
small stair on the thickness of the wall leads
from the 1st. floor to the basement at the N.W. [North West] corner.

[Continued on page 86]