Visit South Lanarkshire and Discover its Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age History
 

Rural Lanarkshire has been regarded as an ideal place to live for more than eight millennia.

The very first people to arrive were hunter-gatherers who followed the River Clyde in search of food.

Essentially nomads these stone-age people did not build permanent homes or settlements and their discarded axes made of local stone and flint are the only evidence we have of their presence.

The next wave of immigrants however made much more of an impression. Neolithic people settled permanently in the area clearing woodland and establishing farms.

A keen eye is needed to spot traces of the Neolithic people but among the most obvious evidence of their presence are the cultivation terraces high on Dunsyre hill in the Pentland hills. If you are prepared to do a bit of walking on the moors to the north west of Carnwath you will encounter many alien lumps and bumps that are the handy-work of the intensely ritualistic Neolithic people.

From the Neolithic period Lanarkshire drifts into the Bronze Age around 2,000 BC. Despite having the sophistication to work with metal they continued to build stone cairns and erect standing stones.

The cairn on top of Tinto hill, South Lanarkshire is the biggest in Scotland and it is clear from the large number of sites to be found around Tinto hill that it was considered a very special place by the Bronze Age people. The summit cairn may have been their way of fixing the date of the shortest day.

Next were the Iron Age people and for them the rolling hills close to the River Clyde were an ideal combination. Building their forts on the summits of low hills they could stay out of harms way and see it coming from a long way off while using the river valley as an efficient means of getting around.

On the hills around Coulter, Nisbet and Snaip are several Iron Age hill forts and one of the most striking is Cow Castle which can bee reached by a short walk from Nisbet farm – the final approaches are however very steep.

To foil an attack by an enemy on horseback the approaches to Cow Castle were deliberately ribbed with steeper sections to disrupt the horse’s gallop.

Cow Castle’s steep ramparts and the deep double ditches remain very clear however no one knows how secure the occupants actually were behind their timber walls and timber gates.

The Iron Age came to an abrupt end in 60 AD with the arrival of the Romans in the Clyde Valley.

Historic Places of Interest in South Lanarkshire
 

• Crooked Stane near Elvanfoot – Lanarkshire’s only standing stone sits in a field south of Elvanfoot. View from A702. (Grid ref: NS 965 153)
• Burngrange cairn –estimated at 4000 years old the cairn is the oldest manmade structure in Lanarkshire north-east of Carnwath and north-west of Weston. Follow path to west of Weston on moors where you will find several heather covered cairns. (Grid ref: NT 030 495)
• Arbory hill fort –at 429 metres above sea level it is not easy to reach however it can be clearly seen from the minor road accessed by way of Southwood Farm, Abington. (Grid ref: NS 944 237)
• Tinto hill (707 metres) – there is a large Iron Age fort to the left of the path from Fallside. The concentric double ditches and entrances can clearly be made out. The summit cairn dates from the Bronze Age.
• Black Law (290 metres) – a National Trust for Scotland property this Iron Age fort and burial cairn is a superb viewpoint. Follow signs from Kirkfieldbank and then walk to summit. Free entry.
• Cow Castle –one mile south east of Coulter village, Cow Castle is accessed by Nisbet Farm where a footpath goes in the direction of Kilbucho. Final approach is steep. There are many more hill forts in the area. (Grid ref: NT 043 332)