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Glengeith is a post-medieval settlement comprising a bastle house and associated field system, located in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The bastle house, a sturdy defensive farmhouse type common to the Anglo-Scottish border region and its hinterland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, forms the focal point of the complex. These fortified dwellings provided protection for livestock and valuables during periods of raiding and lawlessness, their characteristic stone construction and secure design reflecting the precarious conditions of frontier farming communities. The settlement's field system demonstrates the agricultural exploitation of the surrounding landscape, with boundaries and enclosures still visible in the terrain.
The monument sits upon bedrock of the Shinnel and Glenlee Formations, comprised of wacke deposits from the Ashgill period, which provide the durable stone utilised in the bastle house's construction. The landscape and geology of this Lanarkshire location would have determined both settlement placement and agricultural practice, with the underlying geology influencing the quality of available building stone.
The site is protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument under reference SM4798, recognising its significance as evidence of post-medieval settlement patterns and the defensive strategies employed by rural communities in early modern Scotland.
Glengeith, settlement, bastle house and field system is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4798. View the official record →
Glengeith is a post-medieval settlement comprising a bastle house and associated field system, located in Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4798.
Glengeith, settlement, bastle house and field system dates from the post-medieval period, and is classified as a settlement, bastle house and field system. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Glengeith, settlement, bastle house and field system 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 SM4798.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Air Cleuch,cairns 1300m S of Glengeith (1.4 km), Crookedstane,platform settlement 1300m W of (1.8 km), Crooked Stone, standing stone 160m N of Crookedstane (2.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Glengeith, settlement, bastle house and field system'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.
Glengeith, settlement, bastle house and field system stands on Shinnel Formation And Glenlee Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is wacke.