© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
Headshaw Law is a cultivation terraces monument located in Roxburghshire, Scotland. The site comprises a series of terraced earthworks created to enable agricultural cultivation on sloping ground, a characteristic response to challenging terrain in medieval and post-medieval Scotland. These terraces represent the systematic modification of the landscape to maximise usable agricultural land, a technique widely adopted in upland and hillside settlements across southern Scotland.
The monument sits on bedrock composed of Silurian to Devonian extrusive rocks, specifically mafic lava and tuff formed during the Devonian period. This volcanic geology creates steep natural slopes that would have presented significant obstacles to conventional ploughing and cultivation, making the construction of level terraces essential for effective land use in this locality.
Headshaw Law is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2409. The terraces survive as a visible record of agricultural practice and land management strategies employed to sustain settlement and subsistence in the rolling terrain of the Borders region, demonstrating the ingenuity with which communities worked within the constraints of their landscape.
Headshaw Law,cultivation terraces is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2409. View the official record →
Headshaw Law is a cultivation terraces monument located in Roxburghshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2409.
Headshaw Law,cultivation terraces 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 SM2409.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Blackhall Hill,cairns (6.1 km), Dere Street,Roman road,Blackhall Hill to Black Halls (6.5 km), Loddan Hill North, palisaded settlement 800m NNE of summit (6.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Headshaw Law,cultivation terraces'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.
Headshaw Law,cultivation terraces stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Silurian To Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.