Angus HER - NO35SW0020 - CANTSMILL

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNO35SW0020
NameCANTSMILL
NRHE Card No.NO35SW20
NRHE Numlink 32360
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. NULL
Site Form Earthwork
Site Condition Incomplete
Details Seven or eight cists and an urn have been found in this small eminence. Circa 1862 Mr Ramsay found a cist, with an urn containing ashes in it. This may be the feature, which Jervise locates to 'on Cantsmill farm, about 200yds northeast of the parish church'. He calls it a hillock, known as St Medan's Knowe, or sometimes Battle Cairn. It was formerly about 91m in circumference and 1.82m to 2.13m high. In 1859, when it was being removed, an inverted cinerary urn containing ashes was found a little northeast of the mound's centre. It was 40.5cm high and 35.6cm across the mouth. A large boulder, 1.82m x 2.28m was found in the mound 1.2m southwest of the urn. About 3.65m from the urn, there was a separate circle of earth and stones, chiefly stones. Within it, at regular distances, were deposits of human and animal bones protected by two flat stones set up in an inverted 'V' shape. None of the deposits was more than 20.3cm below the surface. In 1861, when excavations were continued, a cist, 1.52m x 0.61m x 0.61m, covered by a 1.82m long slab, was found a little southeast of the boulder. It contained nothing but black unctuous earth. The farm tenant who carried out these excavations left for Australia after the spring of 1861, so work was stopped, but it was hoped to resume at some future date. This cairn has been reduced to a rectangular mound measuring 28m by 22m and 1.5m in height. It is probably the cairn known in the 19th century either as St Medan's Knowe or Battle Cairn, in which a 'cinerary urn', a cist, and several burial-deposits were found between 1859 and 1861.
Last Update13/02/2024
Updated Bycpalmer
Compiler 
Date of Compilation 

Google Map for NO35SW0020

National Grid Reference: NO 3202 5210



Event Details


Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
CAIRNS REMAINS OFB100
CISTS REMAINS OFA100
URNS  C100