Images (4)
Fieldnotes (1)
Miscellaneous (2)

Images

Image of Dronley House (Artificial Mound) by drewbhoy

South east section.

Image credit: drerw/A/L/B

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

The mounds northern side.

Image credit: drew/A/L/B

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

The sizeable mound is 3m high. This the east side.

Image credit: drew/A/L/B

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

View of the mound from the road.

Image credit: drew/A/L/B

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

2 comments

Articles

Dronley House

Artificial Mound

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

To the south west corner of Dronley House Wood there is a very large artificial mound measuring almost 30, wide and 3m high. Unfortunately it has received the normal houking but it still retains its shape. It is completely covered in turf. Some people still use it, offerings of holly and flowers have been attached to the branches of the trees.

In the middle of Birkhill, on the A923, take the minor road heading north. Keep going north over the split crossroads until the first wood. The mound can be seen from the road to the east.

Nice easy start to the day.

Visited 29/12/2017.

Dronley House

Artificial Mound

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

Neolithic Mound

In the South-west corner of the Dronley House Wood (where the 275kV and 33kV electricity lines cross the road) there is a small mound about 26 yards across and 12 feet high with a possible encircling ditch, recently made visible from the road following the felling of some spruce to keep the wires safe. Grandfather thought this was simply a ‘midden’ but an archaeologist friend visiting a few years ago thought it might be a “neolithic burial mound”. He noted the ditch and also claimed to see three indentations in the mound where early grave-robbers might have dug in for treasure. I foolishly mentioned this in a pub conversation to another archaeologist who worked for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland and a few months later, in 1992, I received a letter stating that the site was listed as a ‘scheduled ancient monument’! In later correspondence about this “mound” I was told that there is no other reference and that my conversation was the ‘sole authority’ for the listing. The listing comes with a hefty raft of restrictions; be careful what you say!

Roderick Stewart
Dronley House
2014

Dronley House

Artificial Mound

drewbhoy Dec 31, 2017

The monument comprises the remains of a burial monument of prehistoric date surviving as an upstanding mound in woodland.

The monument lies in woodland at around 140m OD on what would formerly have been a site commanding extensive views to the S. It comprises a grass-covered stony mound some 25m in diameter and approximately 3.5m high. It appears to represent the remains of a burial monument of probable Later Neolithic or Bronze Age date.

The area to be scheduled encompasses the mound and an area around it in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive. It is sub-circular with a maximum diameter of 60m, limited on the S and W by existing boundaries which are not to be included in the scheduling. The area to be scheduled is marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland