Monument record MHG31956 - Boundary Dyke - Allt Smeorail

Linear Boundary Dyke, NC 84819 12441 to NC 85347 12732.
Intersection of broad and low, peat turf bank with modern plantation fence at 284819 912441, 6m to the SE of its N corner. It is 1.0m wide and 0.5m high, and some stone is visible within it on drier ground. It has an associated ditch, on its uphill NW side, which is very boggy and water-filled over this section. It is less prominent in this boggier, more irregular ground, but trends from here NE to 284839 912458 and on, across young heather-covered, well-drained ground, to 284947 912512, on the brow of a small hill, where it has degraded to become a very broad and low feature, being 1.5m wide and only 0.2m high. From here, this less prominent dyke continues with a boggy strip to its NW, uphill side, directly down the SW valley-side of a small E-flowing tributary of Ristocky Burn to its bank at 285037 912549.

On the NE side of the tributary burn, it trends 0590 over the crest of a SE-plunging ridge to 285099 912591 (see Plate 29), where it forms the NW boundary of Feature 216 (below). Here the bank is 1-2m wide and 0.5m high, with a shallow, narrow, dry ditch on its uphill, NW side. From this location, the bank, probably a head dyke associated with the pre-clearance settlements of the valley, trends 066 degrees obliquely downhill to become a more prominent bank with visible stone and greatly emphasised by its cover of bracken, which grows exclusively on the linear feature as it crosses the surrounding heather-covered terrain. The bank is cut obliquely by the existing access track on the SW side of Ristocky Burn, crosses the burn at 285153 912611, around 5m to the SE of the track, and is cut obliquely again by the track above the enclosure of Feature 214 (below) at 285179 912633.

From the intersection with the track on the N side of Ristocky Burn, the more prominent bank and the ditch trends up and over the broad, short heather-covered hill flank above the township of Ristocky to 285222 912662. The ditch is 1m deep in this section, having been eroded by faster flowing water on this steeper W-dipping slope as it rushes down into Ristocky Burn. As the 1m wide bank climbs up the higher, heather-covered, drier ground, stone is visible amongst the peat turf, and it has reduced in height to 0.4m, and has a narrow ditch on its uphill NW side at 285306 912715. It continues to trend NE, across the crest of a broad, whale-backed ridge, to terminate at the W bank of a small, S-flowing tributary burn of Allt Smeòrail, between Badan and Ristocky, at 285347 912732. <1>