The Upper Tweed project
View from Talla Burn towards Talla Reservoir and Tweeddale in the background
This Project is primarily one of upland survey and covers all of the land to the west that includes the valley, to its source, of the River Tweed upstream from the town of Peebles. In addition and in conjunction with the Peebleshire Archaeological Society, the Project has been widened to include the valley of the Manor Water, an important tributary of the Tweed from the south.
For convenience, the Project is subdivided into The Tweed Survey sensu stricto; the Megget Reservoir Project; The Talla Reservoir; The Fruid Reservoir, The Broughton Heights Survey; The Manor Valley Survey
The surveys within the area covered by the Upper Tweed Project are largely complete, having identified hundreds of new sites and monuments. Reports on the Tweed Survey and the Megget Reservoir are available on this website. A report on the Manor Valley Survey is in preparation.
Some surveying has still to be carried out, including, when conditions permit, the detailed study of the intricate archaeological landscape at the SE end of Talla Reservoir. However, the main thrust of the Project now involves the excavation within the survey areas of selected sites. For the most part, these are sites that are under threat and lie mainly in Fruid and Megget Reservoirs, but a number of sites have been investigated for research purposes.
The principal excavations are:
- Fruid Reservoir, Bronze Age roundhouses
- Lyne Early Christian cemetery
- Manor Valley, burnt mounds and lead smelting sites
- Glencotho, post medieval sites
- Mossfennan Farm which includes the post-Medieval Logan site and Woodend, a Bronze Age funerary cairn.
- Megget Reservoir, a number of features of Neolithic date
Some survey work remains but the main thrust is now excavation.
Reports
- Tweed – Survey | 2004 | 2.27MB | The latest phase of survey of the Upper Tweed valley to conjoin with the Clydesdales Survey, Broughton Heights and Manor Valley.
- Megget Reservoir Survey | 2005 | 347KB | A part survey of the Megget Valley after the discovery of pre-historic sites within the reservoir during a period of low water level in 2004.
