Houseledge West (Black Law) Unenclosed Settlement (Akeld)
This settlement dates to the Early Bronze Age. It consists of a series of hut circles spread along the foot of a slope along the edge of Black Law above a deeply cut ravine. The settlement is surrounded by a system of fields and a cairnfield. The remains survive as upstanding earthworks.. There were probably three phases of settlement in the site. First, there was a period of field clearance, which produced a number of clearance cairns, then terraces were cut into the hillside, and finally large irregular fields defined by stone banks were built. Some of the houses overlie the field banks and were accompanied by possible stock pens and farmyards. The surrounding cairnfield consisted of over 50 cairns, some of which may have been used as burial sites. One of the cairns was excavated and revealed two graves, one containing a pottery vessel. The settlement, field system and cairnfield all survive in good condition and are an excellent example of the type of settlement common throughout the Cheviots in the Bronze Age. This is a Scheduled Monument protected by law.
N1572
EXCAVATION, Excavations on Black Law 1979; BURGESS, C B
EXCAVATION, Houseledge West settlement 1981
EXCAVATION, Houseledge West settlement 1981
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