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Ratch-hill is a post-medieval settlement with associated field system and enclosures situated in south and south-eastern Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The monument comprises the physical remains of a rural community that developed on challenging terrain, with the settlement and its surrounding agricultural land occupying an area of significant archaeological interest. The site is protected as a Scheduled Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6448, reflecting its importance to understanding the social and economic organisation of early modern rural Scotland.
The landscape supporting Ratch-hill is founded on an igneous intrusion of Silurian age, a felsic rock formation that shapes both the local geology and the settlement's relationship to its environment. This hard, crystalline bedrock would have influenced construction methods, drainage patterns and the character of the land available for cultivation. The varied topography created by such geology presents particular constraints and opportunities for settlement placement and agricultural organisation.
The field system and enclosures surviving at Ratch-hill represent centuries of land management and use. The layout and construction of these divisions would have reflected the social structures and farming practices of post-medieval rural life in the north-east, with field boundaries and enclosures serving both practical and territorial functions within the wider agricultural landscape.
Ratch-hill, settlement, field system & enclosures S and SE of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6448. View the official record →
Ratch-hill is a post-medieval settlement with associated field system and enclosures situated in south and south-eastern Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM6448.
Ratch-hill, settlement, field system & enclosures S and SE of dates from the post-medieval period, and is classified as a settlement, field system & enclosures s and. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Ratch-hill, settlement, field system & enclosures S and SE 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 SM6448.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including South Leylodge Steading, stone circle 110m W of (3.5 km), South Fornet, stone circle 250m NW of (5.8 km), Glack, cairn 245m WNW of (6.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Ratch-hill, settlement, field system & enclosures S and SE 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.
Ratch-hill, settlement, field system & enclosures S and SE of stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is felsic-rock.