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Skirling Mains enclosure, 320 metres west-south-west of Skirling, is a post-medieval earthwork in Peeblesshire, south-central Scotland. The site occupies ground underlain by Silurian to Devonian mafic lavas and tuffs, remnants of ancient volcanic activity that characterises the Southern Uplands geology of this region. This bedrock foundation would have influenced the local landscape and drainage patterns familiar to the enclosure's builders.
The enclosure dates to the period after 1600, when such fieldworks became common features of the agricultural landscape in the Borders and Lowlands. Constructed as a bounded area for stock management or cultivation, it represents the practical farming strategies employed on upland margins during the early modern period. The monument's earthen banks and ditches, though now softened by centuries of weathering, remain legible features in the moorland terrain.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3265, recognising its importance as evidence of post-medieval land use and settlement patterns in the Scottish uplands. Such enclosures, often modest in scale but widespread in distribution, document the incremental transformation of wild moorland into managed pastoral and arable space during the early modern era.
Skirling Mains,enclosure 320m WSW of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3265. View the official record →
Skirling Mains enclosure, 320 metres west-south-west of Skirling, is a post-medieval earthwork in Peeblesshire, south-central Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3265.
Skirling Mains,enclosure 320m WSW of dates from the post-medieval period, and is classified as a enclosure. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Skirling Mains,enclosure 320m WSW 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 SM3265.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Easter Stanhope,homestead 780m NW of (9.1 km), Patervan,fort,settlement & cultivation terraces 1050m NNW of (9.2 km), Stanhope, settlement 160m N of (9.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Skirling Mains,enclosure 320m WSW 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.
Skirling Mains,enclosure 320m WSW of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Silurian To Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.