Broadlea henge () is a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

monument in the parish of Middlebie,

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

. It is one of very few

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

monuments in southern Scotland. The only other well preserved site is the considerably smaller

Pict's Knowe Pict's Knowe () is a henge monument in the parish of Troqueer, Dumfries and Galloway. It is one of a small group of henge monuments around Dumfries which includes Broadlea henge near Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Annan. Pict's Knowe is located 4 ...

near

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

. While Pict's Knowe is a single entrance, Class I henge, Broadlea has two entrances, making it a Class II henge. It measures 50m by 45m inside its ditch, which is as wide as 10m. The banks have been flattened over time but still rise in parts to around four feet high. The henge overlooks the Mein Water valley; the Roman fort of

Birrens Blatobulgium was a Roman fort, located at the modern-day site known as Birrens, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It protected the main western road to Scotland. It was one of the "outpost forts" outside the Roman Empire when the frontier was on H ...

is located on the opposite side of the valley. The aerial photographs which identified the henge also identified a Roman marching camp, whose ditch passes through the north-west entrance of the henge and out through the south-east entrance. The monument is scheduled as "Birrens to Broadlee,Roman forts & camps & henge".{{Cite web, url=http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM666, title=Birrens to Broadlee,Roman forts & camps & henge (SM666), website=portal.historicenvironment.scot, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130002555/http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM666, archive-date=30 November 2018, access-date=2019-11-17

References

Henges in Scotland Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway Scheduled monuments in Dumfries and Galloway