Building record MAB21687 - BOGENJOSS

Consumption dyke, standing 2.3m wide and 1.2m high, uncoursed and battered.

Consumption dyke, standing 2.3m wide and 1.2m high, uncoursed and battered. This dyke is situated on Bogenjoss farm. The land here is marginal and was developed for agriculture relatively late. Although more work remains to be done to establish the precise date of construction for this dyke (and indeed who had it built) it would seem, based on mapping evidence, that the dykes were built sometime after 1867 but before 1901. Although consumption dykes are not entirely unique to the north east of Scotland they are not found in any substantial numbers elsewhere in the world. They are dykes which result from the very rocky nature of the ground in the north east of Scotland and are associated with the period of agricultural improvements from the 18th century. Part of this movement involved clearing new ground of stones to create new fields. The excessive number of rocks and boulders in Aberdeen made this particularly arduous. The cleared rocks could be put to a number of different uses: if it was economical they could be sold off and shipped elsewhere. Many of the boulders and stones cleared in the north east were made into paving slabs in London. But where there were too many or where the distance to move them to the coast for transportation was too high they were often formed into consumption dykes. These dykes 'consumed' the stones cleared from the land. Technically these dykes may be defined as ones which are broader than they are tall. Historically they have also been known as Aberdeenshire Dykes and Consuming Dykes. They perform two functions: firstly to delineate a field boundary as all dykes do and secondly to use up the excess of stones. In some cases they also perform a third aesthetic function. In certain cases they have paths laid out along the top of them and are very much monuments to the taste of the estate landowner who had them created. Topographic survey was carried out in 2015 by Headland Archaeology ahead of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, and recorded three sections of dyke. The eastern one measured 88m in length, 2.9m in width and stood up to 1m, built of angular granite field stones. To the west were two parallel sections of dyke, the southern one 23.5m in length, 1.7m wide and up to 0.8m high, the northern 79m long, varying in width from 2.7m at the southeast end to 7.7m at the northeast, and standing up to 0.8m. These are shown on the OS 2nd edition map but do not appear on the 1st edition.

HEADLAND ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, 2015, WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL WATCHING BRIEF, ABERDEEN WESTERN PERIPHERAL ROUTE (Bibliographic reference). SAB5859.

HEADLAND ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, WSI FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION AND TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY SITES 137, 138 & 139, KIRKHILL DYKES DRAFT V.1, WSI (Bibliographic reference). SAB5863.

HEADLAND ARCHAEOLOGY, 2017, AWPR: CONSTRUCTION PHASE AREAS - RESULTS OF ARCH MONITORING AND MITIGATION DURING POST-EX ASSESSMENT AND ASSESSMENT REPT (Bibliographic reference). SAB5858.

Record last edited

Sep 11 2023 1:23PM