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Upper Keith is a ring ditch located in East Lothian, Scotland, approximately one kilometre north-north-west of the settlement of Upper Keith. Ring ditches are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Britain, typically comprising a circular or oval ditch that once surrounded a timber structure or burial mound, dating most commonly to the Bronze Age. The monument is cut into bedrock of the Inverclyde Group, a geological formation of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone laid down during the Osagean period of the Carboniferous era.
The ditch itself would have served multiple purposes: marking territorial or ritual boundaries, providing defence, or defining a sacred space associated with burial or habitation. The underlying geology of sandstone and siltstone at Upper Keith would have been relatively straightforward to excavate using Bronze Age tools, though the softer mudstone bands may have been more prone to erosion over the millennia since the monument's construction.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland's designation SM5735, recognising its archaeological importance as evidence of prehistoric settlement and land use in East Lothian. The monument contributes to understanding the distribution of Bronze Age communities across the Lothian region and the choices these groups made in selecting locations for their settlements and ritual monuments.
Upper Keith, ring ditch 1000m NNW of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5735. View the official record →
Upper Keith is a ring ditch located in East Lothian, Scotland, approximately one kilometre north-north-west of the settlement of Upper Keith. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5735.
Upper Keith, ring ditch 1000m NNW 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 SM5735.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Saughland,enclosure 1000m ESE of (2.8 km), Frostineb,enclosure 600m E of (3 km), Falla Luggie Tower,towerhouse (4.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Upper Keith, ring ditch 1000m NNW 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.
Upper Keith, ring ditch 1000m NNW of stands on Inverclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Osagean. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.