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Blake Muir is a platform settlement located in Peeblesshire, Scotland. The monument comprises a deliberately levelled terraced platform cut into the hillside, a settlement form characteristic of upland areas in the Scottish Borders during the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. Such settlements were constructed to create habitable space on sloping ground, with the platform serving as a foundation for domestic structures. The underlying bedrock of Gala Group wacke, a hard metamorphic rock formation dating to the Telychian period, would have presented significant challenges to Iron Age builders, requiring considerable effort to excavate and level the platform.
The construction technique reflects the practical adaptation of communities to the topography and geology of the Peeblesshire uplands. Platform settlements of this type typically housed single families or small kinship groups and often served as the centre of agricultural territories. The exposed wacke bedrock visible across the Borders landscape would have required stone tools and antler implements to work, limiting the depth to which platforms could be cut.
Blake Muir is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2960, recognising its archaeological significance as evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British settlement patterns in south-central Scotland. The site contributes to understanding how upland communities organised their settlement and land use during these periods.
Blake Muir,platform settlement is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2960. View the official record →
Blake Muir is a platform settlement located in Peeblesshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2960.
Blake Muir,platform settlement is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM2960.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Orchard Rig,settlements,enclosures,cairn and field system (3.9 km), Young Bush Wood,enclosure NW of (4.2 km), Birk's Cairn,cairn,Birkscairn Hill (4.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Blake Muir,platform settlement's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Blake Muir,platform settlement stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.