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Sourhope is a scooped homestead complex situated in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. The site comprises two homesteads set within the rolling upland landscape approximately 200 metres to the north-east and 300 metres to the east-north-east of a central location. Scooped homesteads are characteristic Iron Age or early medieval settlements, where dwellings were constructed within shallow depressions deliberately dug into the hillside to provide shelter and drainage in exposed moorland environments. The practice was common across northern Britain and the Scottish uplands, where such recessed positions offered protection from wind and weather.
The monument is founded upon Silurian to Devonian extrusive rocks, specifically mafic lavas and tuffs formed during the Devonian period. This volcanic bedrock underlies much of the Borders landscape and typically produces shallow, heathery soils suited to pastoral farming rather than arable cultivation. Such terrain would have supported the livestock-focused economy characteristic of upland settlement in antiquity.
The complex is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under scheduled monument designation SM4864, reflecting its archaeological significance as evidence of prehistoric or early medieval land use and settlement patterns in the Scottish uplands.
Sourhope,scooped homesteads 200m NE and 300m ENE of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4864. View the official record →
Sourhope is a scooped homestead complex situated in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4864.
Sourhope,scooped homesteads 200m NE and 300m ENE 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 SM4864.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Windy Gyle,cairns 480m & 700m NE of summit of (5 km), Round cairn west of Windy Gyle, 680m WNW of Russell's Cairn (5 km), Russell's Cairn on Windy Gyle (5.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Sourhope,scooped homesteads 200m NE and 300m ENE 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.
Sourhope,scooped homesteads 200m NE and 300m ENE of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Silurian To Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.