east-lothian-1924/05-201

Transcription

STENTON.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [STENTON.

standing are 20 feet high and some 4 feet thick,
built mainly of whinstone in narrow courses.
The basement floor has been vaulted.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-In 1505 John Forrest
succeeded his father John Forrest in the lands
of ' Gamelshields '1 But in 1679 James Home
entered upon the lands of Wester ' Gamel-
shields ' as heir to his father George Home of
' Gamelshields.'2 The superior of the lands was
Hepburn of Hailes.3

1 Inquisit. Spec. Hadd. No. 392 ; 2 Ibid.
No. 344 ; 3 R.M.S. s.a. 1451, No. 513.

xvi. S.E. 6 June 1913.

CAIRNS.

182. Cairn, Summerhill, Millknowe.-Round
the brow of Summerhill, which lies between
Gamelshiel Castle and the new bridge over the
Whitadder near Kingside School, at an ele-
vation of 900 to 1000 feet above sea-level, is
an earthen wall 5 feet wide at base and 1 1/2 feet
in height, which encloses an area some 200
yards in diameter. There is no ditch, and
probably the enclosure was a cattle-fold used
for penning up cattle and sheep during the
night, when being droved along the pass
through the Lammermuirs which follows the
Whitadder Water.
Just within the south-western arc of the
enclosure, at an elevation of 950 feet above
sea-level, on the steep slope of the hill over-
looking the river, is a cairn of stones 14 feet in
diameter and rising 1 foot in height at the
centre.

xvi. S.E. (unnoted). 6 June 1913.

183. Cairn, Spartleton.-On the summit of
Spartleton, at a height of over 1500 feet above
sea-level, is a cairn of stones, 50 feet in diameter
and rising 3 1/2 feet in height at the centre. On
the top an observation cairn has been erected
out of the material of the original structure,
but probably the central portion of the cairn
has not been disturbed. Spurs of stone project
from the base of the cairn towards the cardinal
points of the compass, but these have un-
doubtedly been fashioned in modern times.

xvi. S.E. (unnoted). 14 June 1913.

112

HUT CIRCLES.

184. Hut Circles, Snailscluch.-Some 400
yards north of Friars Nose Fort (No. 219), on
the opposite side or left bank of the Whitadder,
is a fine group of stone-walled hut circles (fig.
159) occupying the summit of a broad slope,
immediately east of Snailscleuch, at an ele-
vation of 800 feet above sea-level and about
100 feet above the Whitadder. The chief
features of this group are two large irregular
areas impinging on each other, both surrounded
by a stone wall 1 foot high on the outside and
deeply excavated in the interior. The larger

[illustration inserted]
FIG. 159.-Structures, Snailscleuch (No. 184).

area measures over the outside about 55 feet
from north-west to south-east and about 80
feet from north-east to south-west, and in
places the wall rises nearly 3 feet above the
lowest part of the interior. It contains at least
four hut circles on the inside of the western
segment of the enclosing wall and a fifth near
the centre, each about 11 feet in diameter
internally. The smaller of the two large en-
closures lies to the south-east of the larger
and measures some 66 feet from east to west
over the exterior and some 61 feet from north to
south and is about 5 feet deep in the inside. A
large portion of this enclosure is obscured by