Game Cleugh

These remains were first discovered in the 1990s when archaeologists visited the site on several different occasions. Each time the interpretation of the remains has changed and they have variously been described as an enclosed cremation cemetery, stone circle and ring cairn. It is a roughly oval enclosure measuring 30m by 25m inside a bank of earth and stones. This bank is 2m wide and a series of upright stone slabs line its inner face. Some of these stones have been moved in medieval times to build a shieling inside the enclosing bank NY7570 : Foundations of stone building in enclosure near Chatley Crags Part of the enclosure was excavated in 1994 and this showed it to have been a complex structure with several phases of use. This work also found a large pit in the centre of the enclosure that probably originally contained a burial. This is a Scheduled Monument protected by law now considered as a rare example of a Bronze Age (2600BC to 700BC) Enclosed Cremation Cemetery. Link

Reusing some of the stones of the Bronze Age Enclosed Cremation Cemetery NY7570 : Enclosed Cremation Cemetery near Chatley Crags, interpreted as a relatively modern shieling.

Chatley Crags is a small zone of hard sandstone within the mosaic of the Tyne Limestone Formation of the Carboniferous Period.

The fertility of the soil here is shown in the foreground molehills. Lazy bed is a traditional method of arable cultivation. Rather like cord rig cultivation, parallel banks of ridge and furrow are dug by spade although lazy beds have banks that are bigger, up to 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, with narrow drainage channels between them. It was used in southern parts of Britain from the post-Roman period until the post-medieval period, and across much of Ireland and Scotland until the 19th century. Although it is largely extinct, it is still to be found in parts of the Hebrides and the west of Ireland. In these places, the method used is normally to lift up sods of peat and apply desalinated seaweed fertiliser to improve the ground. Potatoes were often grown in this way in these regions, until the potato blight Phytophthora infestans caused potato famine in the Highlands and Ireland. Link

Shown as such on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey 25" map.

Showing possible small oval enclosure.

This farm is boxed around by the path now.

The footpath from the farm south towards Greenlee Lough descends through this meadow thick with buttercups and yellow rattle. It is owned by the National Trust and stands out in views from afar.

The plantation has been clear-felled.