Smeale Beg Roundhouse
The site of an Iron Age Roundhouse. It survives as an almost circular earthwork with an average overall diameter of 25.0 metres which is set on marshy ground and heavily overgrown with fern. Though the fern makes field investigation difficult, the feature appears to be both by construction and by topographical situations a typical Roundhouse of circa 200 AD. The interior is raised above the exterior by 0.3 metres and around its circumference is a bank with an average width of 1.7 metres and average inner height of 0.2 metres. Outside the bank is a fragmentary berm average 3.0 metres wide and 0.3 metres high but no outer ditch could be traced in the reed covered ground. In the north the bank appears to split with the west portion swinging in towards the centre and the east portion swinging away from it thus creating a gap of 4.0 metres. This may be an entrance not shown on maps.
The Roundhouse is shown on the 1870 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map and named as The Buggane. This map shows a lake to the southwest side of the monument.
Connections
Book Chapters
- Parish: Andreas
- Sheading: Ayre
- Grid Ref: NX4096001520
Sources
- Isle of Man Heritage Environment Record