Site Report

WoSASPIN 7121
NS40NE 2 4821 0608 to 4890 0597.

(NS 4821 0608 - NS 4890 0597) Pickan's Dyke (NR)
OS 6" map (1938)

Pickan's Dyke (NAT)
OS 6" map (1958)

A small part of Pickan's Dyke can be traced on Mains Hill; it is said to run all the way to the Solway Firth.
J Smith 1895

Pickan's Dyke, an old land-boundary, runs E from near the E edge of the graveyard at Dalmellington up to the crest of Mains Hill, descending again to near the confluence of the Parrie Burn with the Muck Water (NS 486 054) and thus encloses an area on the right bank of the latter which measures about 1/2 mile in length by 1/4 mile. The bank stands to a height of about 2ft and is spread to a thickness of about 12ft. It appears to have a slight ditch on the S side.
A Graham and R W Feachem 1956

A slender turf bank, very low and considerably mutilated, up to 0.7m in height and 4.5m in width. The ditch referred to above is only visible for part of its length, as shown on OS 6" (1938).
Immediately N of the dyke and running almost parallel with it for some distance are some old field banks. This dyke may also be the remains of an old enclosure bank as similar short linear features exist in the neighbourhood.
From A to B (NS 4821 0608 to NS 4840 0613) it appears as a low, badly mutilated bank, with no traces of a ditch. At B, a shallow ditch appears and runs on the S of the low bank to C (NS 4865 0612) where both bank and ditch disappear. At D, (NS 4872 0608) the bank, low and spread, with a very vague ditch on the S, re-appears, diminishing gradually towards the SE and finally disppearing into moorland at E (NS 4890 0597).
Revised at 25".
Visited by OS (JLD) 16 July 1954

This boundary bank, which has now been effaced between NS 4824 0609 and NS 4829 0611, is of minor archaeological significance.
Visited by OS (MJF) 18 September 1980

NS 4855 0615 - Pickans Dyke is shown on the Os 1st Edition map running from NS 4821 0608 to 4890 0598. Field survey located the eroded remains of this feature, which comprises an earth and stone bank up to 4m across and between 0.2-0.8m high. There is a ditch up to 2.5m wide and 0.4m deep on the S side of the bank. The bank fades out in peaty heather moorland on the top of Mains Hill.
Environmental Statement for the Kyle Windfarm, CFA Archaeology Ltd, (2004)

NS 49100 05800 (approximate)
Modern forestry has been established to the E and SE of the furthest identified stretch of the earthwork, making it difficult if not impossible to trace any extension to the SE or E. However, the scale and morphology of the known section of the earthwork, and its relationship to the topography of the hillside, would suggest that it may be part of a park pale which enclosed a deer park in the medieval period, and which may have been associated with the owner of Dalmellington Motte (WoSASPIN 7131) or the monument known as Dame Helen's Castle (WoSASPIN 7132). Having climbed the point of the western ridge of Mains Hill above Dalmellington, the dyke appears to head along the contour in the direction of the Parrie Burn. If used as a park pale, it is likely that the earthwork would have originally passed through the area around NS 49100 05800 before reaching the Parrie Burn glen or the gully of one of its smaller northern tributaries, either of which might have formed a reasonable SE boundary to a deer park with minimal modification. No features of note are shown on the high ground on General Roy's Military Survey of Scotland (1747-55), although it does appear to show two sets of structures within what would have been the enclosed area (see WoSASPIN 66407 & WoSASPIN 66408). Neither set of buildings is shown on the 1st Ed. map. Information from map evidence.
Entered WoSAS (HMcB) 22/05/2012