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Brockhill Burn is a earthwork located in Selkirkshire, Scotland, situated on bedrock of the Hawick Group formation, a Wenlock-age wacke that gives the landscape its characteristic hard, grey stone. The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2242, reflecting its significance as a record of past land use and settlement patterns in the Scottish Borders. The wacke bedrock would have presented considerable challenges to any communities working or constructing features at this location, requiring substantial effort to break ground or move stone.
Earthworks of this type in Selkirkshire typically date to the Iron Age or Romano-British periods, though without excavation the precise age of Brockhill Burn remains undetermined. Such monuments often served defensive, ritual or domestic purposes, and their survival depends heavily on local topography and agricultural history. The Hawick Group geology underlying the site is typical of the Southern Uplands, providing a landscape framework for understanding settlement distribution across the region.
The earthwork's preservation owes much to the moorland terrain characteristic of upper Selkirkshire, where rough grazing and forestry have limited destructive ploughing. Brockhill Burn therefore contributes to the archaeological record of the Scottish Borders, offering potential for future investigation into early settlement and land management in this upland zone.
Brockhill Burn,earthwork is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2242. View the official record →
Brockhill Burn is a earthwork located in Selkirkshire, Scotland, situated on bedrock of the Hawick Group formation, a Wenlock-age wacke that gives the landscape its characteristic hard, grey stone. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2242.
Brockhill Burn,earthwork 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 SM2242.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Huntly Burn,enclosure (1.3 km), Huntly Burn,earthwork (1.5 km), Kirkhope Tower, barmkin and barmkin wall S of (1.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Brockhill Burn,earthwork'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.
Brockhill Burn,earthwork stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.