Law Knowe

Lost to time, yet whispering secrets still, Law Knowe stands as a testament to lives long past. Here at Law Knowe, a prehistoric burial cairn overlooks the town of East Kilbride. It’s a prominent knoll, a place that has held significance for millennia. The cairn is mentioned in Ure’s 1793 “History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride”. It also appears in the 1857 Ordnance Survey’s “Object Name Book”. Interestingly, Law Knowe has been marked on every Ordnance Survey map since that first edition. Despite its cartographic longevity, early records paint a picture of a monument disturbed. Ure’s writings suggest much of the cairn had been removed by antiquarians by the late 18th century. He described the original cairn as 7 to 9 meters in diameter, ringed by large flagstones. While Ure found nothing within, the “Object Name Book” records the discovery of an urn, hinting at later explorations. By 1955, the Ordnance Survey reported no visible trace. However, a 1982 visit by Dr. TC Welsh identified a low, circular mound atop the knoll. Excavations have revealed cairn material precisely where it would have been most visible from the valley below. This suggests Law Knowe was a significant landmark. It likely held an important place in the beliefs and rituals of the people who built it. Fragments of worked flint and medieval pottery shards, found in the topsoil, add further layers to Law Knowe’s story, speaking of different eras and activities on this ancient site.