Kirknewton and Westnewton : Potential For Further Research

The outstanding significance of the extant late prehistoric and Romano-British monuments in Glendale needs no emphasis. Several recent surveys undertaken by English Heritage as part of the Discovering our Hillfort Heritage Project have revealed just how many elements of the more extensive landscape can be traced around these sites and demonstrated the progress which can be made in phasing the various different components through detailed survey. However major questions of chronology, site hierarchy, settlement transition remain unresolved and when set against the outstanding survival international quality of these historic landscapes it is extraordinary how little has been carried out in recent decades.

The late Antique/Early Medieval period is still especially poorly understood. Significant progress has been made in understanding the overall pattern of estates known as ‘shires’ or ‘multiple estates’ and something of their historical development. Some of the major estate centres have been investigated or are known from aerial photography (e.g. Ad Gefrin, Maelmin, Sprouston) and a few lesser sites have been excavated, notably Thirlings. However the processes by which shift was accomplished from the numerous hilltop or hillside settlements of the Romano-British period to the nucleated villages - like Kirknewton and Westnewton - located in the valley bottom, which are apparent in the 12th and 13th centuries, remain very unclear. This shift undeniably represents a substantial reordering of settlement and society over time.

Of the components of the medieval village of Kirknewton, only the parish church is visible today, although the location of others - the Strothers’ towerhouse and the rows of houses may be inferred. Any opportunity to obtain archaeological verification of these inferences from the historic map evidence should be taken. At Westnewton, the lack of detailed pre-19th century map evidence means the medieval layout can only be inferred in the most general terms.

It is easy to imagine that the history of the previous century is extensively documented in a wide variety of media. Yet many subjects poorly documented, underlining the importance and urgency of oral history projects and archival ‘ingathering’ schemes as a means of recording the profound changes experienced in so many aspects of life during the 20th century.