Capielaw Enclosed Settlement Carrington, Midlothian, Scotland, UK

Scheduled Monument Statement of Significance

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to our understanding of prehistoric settlement and economy. The enclosure ditches may be expected to contain material relating to the contemporary economy and environment of the site, while the interior may contain evidence relating to domestic organisation and house construction.

Scheduled Monument Description

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument comprises the remains of an enclosed settlement of prehistoric date represented by cropmarks visible on oblique aerial photographs.

The monument lies in arable land at around 155m OD. It comprises an oval enclosure measuring approximately 160m E-W by 90m N-S with a ditch up to 5m in width. There appears to be an entrance at the NW. A dark linear cropmark running approximately NE-SW partially bisects the enclosure but stops short of the SW part of the enclosure ditch. NW of this cropmark is an alignment of five regularly spaced pits, running approximately N-S. A series of dark, diffuse cropmarks within the enclosure may represent the remains of former internal buildings.

The scheduled area encompasses the visible features and an area around them in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive. It is semi-circular with a maximum diameter of 180m as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Scheduled Monument References

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk reference number CANMORE ID 53606 (accessed on 04/03/2020).

Local Authority HER/SMR Reference MEL8507 (accessed on 04/03/2020).