Listed Historical Sites
Below is a list of the recorded historical sites of interest within the boundaries of the parish which do not have their own page on our website.
West Preston
MDG5819 WEST PRESTON
BUILDING (Post Medieval to 18th Century - 1601 AD? to 1800 AD?)
Description
Ruined long building, visible on aerial photographs, but not shown on any Ordnance Survey map. This indicates that the
building was out of use, reduced and therefore not recorded by 1850. The other slight possibility is that it was constructed,
used and demolished within the first half of the 20th century, when there was no mapping undertaken in the area.
MDG5820 COWCORSE
STRUCTURE (Unknown date)
Description
'In March 1963 Mr Kirkland of Cowcorse Farm reported that a large stone had been turned up in one of his fields. Detailed examination showed that there was a stone structure of granite boulders forming an E-W channel topped by smaller stones, on which rested large flat sandstones, lying north-south.
The whole was 9 ft. 9 ins. long, 6 ft. 6 ins. broad and 2 ft. 9 ins. in height. The top lay about 8 ins. below present surface. The purpose of the structures is not clear. It was not a burial. It could have been a kiln of sorts except for the fact that there is no bowl or fireplace.
Mainsriddle
MDG5243 COWCORSE / MAINSRIDDLE
CROPMARK SITE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?)
Description
A sub-rectangular enclosure which is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, amongst less determinate features. It is possibly associated with a group of prehistoric cist burials uncovered in the immediate vicinity.
MDG5810 MAINSRIDDLE CAIRN (Early Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 2000 BC? to 701 BC?)
Description
This cairn was removed about 1843. A cist containing human bones was found below the surface of the ground. The bones were re-interred. A rubbing-post marked the site in the late 19th century, but has subsequently been removed and the field ploughed.
MDG5840 MAINSRIDDLE
BURIAL; CIST (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 2500BC to 1701BC)
Description
A short cist was found by deep ploughing in the area centred NX 947565, in January, 1957. The cist contained an excellently preserved crouched burial, an early type of Beaker (datting between 2500BC and 2000BC) and a bone ring with one of the nerve holes enlarged suggesting adaptation for suspension, and not as a finger ring. The cist and its contents are on display in Dumfries Museum.
MDG5843 MAINSRIDDLE
ENCLOSURE (Unknown date))
Description
A possible oval enclosure and overlapping sub-circular one, can be seen as cropmarks on aerial photographs. The oval ditch surrounds a rising area of land, shown on OS maps. Whether it is simply recent drainage, or marking some earlier feature is not clear. A possible second, sub-circular enclosure is visible overlapping the oval one on the south-eastern side.
MDG5866 MAINSRIDDLE
CREMATION (Unknown date)
Description
Cremation burials, yielding burnt human bones but no pottery, were turned up by the plough at NX 9514 5647 in 1958, and
at NX 9492 5645 in 1965. As the field is under crop the find spots could only be pointed out on the map by the finder, Mr
Kirkland of Cowcorse Farm. The bones are now at Dumfries Museum.
MDG8197 MAINSRIDDLE
FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
Description
Several mesolithic chert and flint implements in a mixture of inland and coastal techniques have been recovered from the top of the raised beach where the Beck Burn cuts out through the old shoreline. They are now in Dumfries Museum.
MDG9721 MAINSRIDDLE
MOUND (Unknown date)
HOUSE (19th Century to 20th Century - 1801? to 1920?)
Description
In advance of landscaping, an unusually-shaped mound was investigated in July 1994. A number of standing stones, cairns with cists, cropmark enclosures and stray finds in the vicinity, suggested that the mound may have represented a focal point in the archaeological landscape, perhaps with burials inserted. Alternatively, or as a secondary use, it may have been a motte.
A total of ten trenches were opened, covering the summit, flanks and base of the mound. It was proved to have been geological, rather than artificial with evidence of later activity in the form of traces of 19th/20th-century structures, cut into the northern flank of the mound, the remains of a small group of cottages that once stood there.
MDG21834 GOWANBRAE / MAINSRIDDLE
ENCLOSURE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?)
Description
Small rectangular enclosure (?) defined by a cropmark on aerial photographs. The long axis of the enclosure lies parallel to the road.
Torrorie
MDG5806 TORRORIE
ENCLOSURE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?)
Description
A sub-rectangular enclosure which is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs adjacent to the site of a former cairn.
MDG5807 TORRORIE
ENCLOSURE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?)
Description
A sub-rectangular nucleus around 35m across, is visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1970s and currently held in Dumfries Museum
MDG5823 TORRORIE
LIME KILN (Modern - 1901 AD to 2050 AD)
QUARRY (Modern - 1901 AD to 2050 AD)
Description
About a half-mile south-west of Prestonmill, the remains of a small limestone quarry and kiln bank with traces of stonework, which is probably the outline of a single small kiln. Ainslie's map 1797 indicates a 'Marle Pit' and two kilns, although the OS six-inch map of 1850-1 has only one kiln marked. Torrorrie limeworks were probably developed in the late 18th century to supply lime to neighbouring farmers.
MDG5836 TORRORIE
HOUSE; TOWER (Medieval to 18th Century - 1107 AD? to 1800 AD?)
Description
The original tower house of Cavens is said to have stood at the site now occupied by Torrorie farm. Cavers or Cavens was a castellated house, similar to Wreaths and is said to have belonged to, and been occupied by, the Regent Morton in the late 16th century. It was occupied until about 1800, after which it was robbed, until in 1893 very few traces remained.
Loaningfoot
MDG5808 LOANINGFOOT
LINEAR FEATURE (Unknown date)
TRACKWAY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1107 AD? to 1900 AD?)
Description
A double ditched trackway running NNW, crossing modern field boundaries and heading towards Torrorie.
About 160m east of the trackway is a sinuous linear feature.
Hangman Hill
MDG5835 HANGMAN HILL CAIRN (Early Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 2000 BC? to 701 BC?)
Description
A "large, circular, conical cairn", on the top of Hangman Hill, itself seemingly artificial, was removed for building purposes
about 1844; and under this cairn was found a "kistvaen containing an earthen urn with ashes and some fragments of bones
under it." The site was marked by a stone, which cannot now be found. It is not known if the urn was re-buried.