Read on Twitter
We've recently had a mystery to solve concerning a peculiar looking donut-shaped site near West Lethans on the NW side of Knock Hill
What could it be? There were several suggestions from our #Fife County archaeologist...
#heritage #archaeology
What could it be? There were several suggestions from our #Fife County archaeologist...
#heritage #archaeology
The @HistEnvScot Canmore record labels it as 'period unassigned'
Ideas included:
prehistoric monumental earthwork (late Neolithic/Bronze Age)
Part of an Early Mediaeval Settlement (~12th C)
Remnants from coal mining or quarrying (19th C)
https://canmore.org.uk/site/72540/west-lethans
Ideas included:
prehistoric monumental earthwork (late Neolithic/Bronze Age) Part of an Early Mediaeval Settlement (~12th C) Remnants from coal mining or quarrying (19th C)https://canmore.org.uk/site/72540/west-lethans
Exploring these a little further...
prehistoric monumental earthwork site
As a large circular ditched circle, (enclosure) with a raised central area, many prehistoric monuments would fit this bill such as barrows, (burial mounds) or small fort-like structures.
#Fife #heritage
prehistoric monumental earthwork siteAs a large circular ditched circle, (enclosure) with a raised central area, many prehistoric monuments would fit this bill such as barrows, (burial mounds) or small fort-like structures.
#Fife #heritage
However! Being located on a slope on the brow of a hill rather than in a more prominent spot is somewhat unusual & if four or five thousand years old, then the ditches are surprisingly sharp.
So... moving on
#Fife #heritage
So... moving on
#Fife #heritage
Early Mediaeval farmsteadPerhaps it's a 9th/10th C Gaelic rath, (a fort-like enclosed farmstead) and being the principle settlement on the hillside, took the name cnoc or knock, which latterly came to be applied as the name for the whole hill - Gaelic: cnoc / Scots: Knock
Many 'rath's' appear in Fife, as shown by place-names like Rathillet, Rathlelpie and Ratho, but the only possible upstanding rath site visible in Fife today is the Cash Mill site at Dunshalt:
https://canmore.org.uk/site/30290/cash-mill
#Fife #heritage
https://canmore.org.uk/site/30290/cash-mill
#Fife #heritage
Remnants from 19th C coal mining/quarryingCoal + ironstone mining, limestone + stone quarrying (for field dyke stone) & rock extraction for farm tracks and roads went on in this landscape for the past 200yrs+ & a late 19th C colliery was located quite close by West Lethans
But stop the press!
We now think the area could be a relict 18th century, (or earlier) sheep or cattle fank/fold, ie. an upland stock-handling pen
https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/fank_n2_v2 @ScotsDictionars
#Fife #heritage
We now think the area could be a relict 18th century, (or earlier) sheep or cattle fank/fold, ie. an upland stock-handling pen
https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/fank_n2_v2 @ScotsDictionars
#Fife #heritage
This 1946 aerial image shows an oval-shaped banked or ditched enclosure with some sort of dividing/separating wall running through its centre plus faint lines of filed boundaries, buildings, stock enclosures & all sorts of relict landscape features...
#Fife #heritage
#Fife #heritage
The landscape was busy with scattered crofting/farming communities spread across the area. From 19thC, sheep folds/fanks tended to be made with drystone walls but from the medieval period up to the early 19th century, they were almost exclusively made of earthen/peat/divot banks
