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Lawhouses is an unenclosed settlement located in Fife, Scotland, situated approximately 300 metres south-west and 450 metres south of a reference point. The settlement represents a form of Iron Age or early medieval occupation characteristic of the eastern Scottish lowlands, where communities lived in scattered farmsteads without the defensive palisades or ditches that enclosed contemporary settlements elsewhere in Scotland. Such unenclosed settlements typically comprised timber roundhouses and associated working areas, organised around cultivation and pastoral practices adapted to local conditions.
The bedrock beneath Lawhouses comprises the Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone deposits formed during the Pragian period of the early Devonian. This mixed geology would have influenced the landscape's drainage, soil formation and agricultural potential, shaping settlement placement and the community's economic strategies. The relatively stable sandstone base provided a firmer substrate than peaty ground found elsewhere in Fife.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6792, recognising its archaeological significance as evidence of prehistoric or early historic settlement patterns in Scotland's east. The monument's survival allows archaeologists to study how communities adapted to the Fife landscape during the pre-Roman or early medieval periods.
Lawhouses, unenclosed settlement 300m SW and 450m S of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6792. View the official record →
Lawhouses is an unenclosed settlement located in Fife, Scotland, situated approximately 300 metres south-west and 450 metres south of a reference point.
Lawhouses, unenclosed settlement 300m SW and 450m S of 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 SM6792.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Leuchars Castle, enclosures 700m N of (3.4 km), Leuchars Castle, unenclosed settlement 320m NNE of (3.9 km), Leuchars Castle, settlement 200m and 400m W of and 240m WNW of (4.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Lawhouses, unenclosed settlement 300m SW and 450m S of'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.
Lawhouses, unenclosed settlement 300m SW and 450m S of stands on Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, bedrock that formed in the Pragian. The rock here is sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone.