<< Text Pages >> Westerton Timber Hall - Ancient Village or Settlement in Scotland in Perth and Kinross

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 03 November 2017  Page Views: 941

Multi-periodSite Name: Westerton Timber Hall Alternative Name: Westerton II
Country: Scotland County: Perth and Kinross Type: Ancient Village or Settlement

Map Ref: NN9821414444
Latitude: 56.311437N  Longitude: 3.646915W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Timber hall (although categorised as a 'timber hall' it does not seem to have been designed to support a roof ) Cropmark. The timber hall at Westerton is defined by five pits on either side with one centrally placed pit at each end and measures around 29m by 9m.

A large circular mark, which probably represents a tree throw, partly obscures one of the pits on the south side, while pits lying immediately outside the hall may represent additional posts or associated structures.

This site lies in a distinctive location, on the very edge of a flat terrace close to the break of slope. The ground slopes sharply away to the north and northwest to a small stream valley, beyond which the ground begins to rise again. This timber hall, seems to be located on a slight promontory with the ground falling away in most directions and is positioned on a very narrow and constrained section of land between the sharply falling terrace edge to the northwest and north and wet ground to the south.

The topography therefore effectively defines the location of the hall quite closely on three sides, and may have restricted or controlled access. Such a location may have made it rather awkward to construct and use this timber hall, and surely reflects a deliberate decision to position it in such a location, particularly as there were many other locations in the immediate vicinity which would have been eminently more suited to the construction of such a structure. This suggests a desire to restrict and constrain access to the hall and clearly define this place and perhaps the area in which associated activity took place. The surrounding topography could be considered an extension of the monument and the proximity of what may have been rather wet locations, the damp dip to the south and stream valley to the north, may have been of importance.

See p.79 of Vol 1. below for more details on unroofable timber enclosures and that section more generally for the Neolithic timber monuments of Scotland.

Source:
Contextualising the cropmark record: the timber monuments of the Neolithic of Scotland. Volume 1: Kirsty Millican 2009
p.209 onwards
https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:15969/

Contextualising the cropmark record: the timber monuments of the Neolithic of Scotland. Volume 2: Gazetteer Kirsty Millican 2009
https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:15971/

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"Westerton Timber Hall" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Experiencing the site of Westerton Timber Hall on the ground and with aerial photos by Andy B on Friday, 03 November 2017
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Kirsty Millican writes: Today, this site is located within a large, open, arable field, and is situated on a relatively level terrace, on a slight spur, overlooking a stream valley to the north and smaller gully to the west. From the location of the timber hall, the ground slopes away quite sharply to the stream valley to the north and north-west, and more gently to the east and west.

Consequently, its location appears to have been effectively defined by the topography on three sides, though the slope to the east is very gentle and may not have provided much definition. Nevertheless, this topography affects both the most practical direction from which to approach this site - if on the same level as the hall this would be from the south - and perhaps also the impact of this structure on the person approaching.

As the timber hall was positioned close to the break of slope to the north, it would have towered above anyone approaching from below, and to a lesser extent to the east and west where the ground slopes away less sharply. This is an important insight, suggesting that the location of this structure may have been carefully chosen, and the topography employed to create or emphasise particular effects and to structure access to the site.

Aerial photographs can provide additional information - when applied to the experiential approach, a more nuanced understanding of landscape emerges.

Of particular relevance is a darker patch visible in the cropmarks, immediately to the southeast of the timber hall, within which are the distinct cropmarks of modern field drains. This indicates that this feature represents a poorly drained area, which
may have been quite wet in the past; no other areas in the immediate vicinity show
evidence of having been drained so intensively. On the ground, a very slight hollow can be discerned in this location, matching the darker area in the cropmarks.

Bearing in mind the flattening effect of the plough, and the smoothed nature of the field today indicates that it has been ploughed repeatedly and perhaps over a long period of time, this hollow is likely to have been much more prominent in the past. It is therefore possible to surmise that the location of the timber hall was further defined by a damp hollow to the south-east, thereby constricting its location – and access to the structure - even more.

Taken together with observations of the ground, this suggests that the timber hall was
almost entirely surrounded by falling ground and the wetter area. If approached upon the level, only one route is possible, from the south moving towards the west side of the wet hollow. Indeed, on the ground today, this is the easiest direction from which to
approach the site as any other direction involves stepping off the relatively level terrace on which the hall was built, and approaching the hall from below. As a person moved closer to the hall, access would have been directed and restricted further, through the relatively narrow passage between the wet hollow to the east and falling ground to the west.

Therefore, the natural topography appears to have been employed to restrict and control access. Once through this naturally defined entrance, one would have been confronted with the western end of the timber hall with the surrounding topography defining a wider area around the structure, perhaps demarcating the extent of activity around the monument and also restricting the number of people who could come close. Therefore, by employing the topography in this manner, the builders were able to subtly guide and control movement to and around this structure.

The restrictions created by the natural topography of this place may also have made
construction and use slightly awkward. This was a deliberate choice; there are many other areas in the immediate vicinity free of the added difficulties of wet ground and terrace edges, which must have been eminently mo

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