Monument record MHG34246 - Stone dykes - Balnarge, Kiltearn

Five stone dykes near Balnarge, Kiltearn, were investigated by J Wordsworth in a watching brief during works to construct a new access track to the Novar Windfarm in 1996.

Wall A was an earthen bank revetted by stone on its eastern face with a ditch beyond. It survived to 0.5m in height and was 1m wide at the top and probably 1.5m wide at its base. A series of silt deposits 1m to the west suggested that there may have been a shallow ditch on the inside of this bank. A piece of bottle glass found in these white silts was thought to date to the early C19.

Wall B did not survive as a recognisable feature either as a bank or a ditch though it could be seen as a bank or ditch further up the hill.

Wall C survived as a low bank no more than 0.3m high. A line of stones visible before machining suggested that this amy have been a collapsed drystone dyke, however further up the hill it was clearly a stone-revetted bank.

Wall D survived as a upstanding wall of large conglomerate blocks up to 1m in diameter. There was no sign of a bank in association with it though such a bank was visible further up the hill.

Wall E joined with Wall D to form an enclosure. The section removed by machine was an insubstantial line of stones but this was complicated by a drain that ran down the field. Immediately to the north it was sen to be a stone revetted bank with a shallow ditch 0.9m wide by 0.35m deep. The bank was 0.8m high and 1-1.3m high at the top.

Wall F was obscured by gorse which completely filled the track to the west. It was a drystone faced bank some 1.7m high to the west and up to 0.3m high to the east. The bank was probably 1m in width. <1>

Further sections of these dykes were recorded during a walkover survey by RoCAS in 2013 in advance of a proposed woodland creation scheme on the Novar Estate. <2>