HER:  Dumfries & Galloway MDG2340 (None)
NMR:  NX 33 NE 3 (62668)
SM:  1989
NGR:  NX 3976 3725
X:  239760  Y:  537250  (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on a hillock that rises from the foot of the S slopes of the Fell of Carleton. Oval on plan, it measures about 65m from NE to SW by 55m transversely (0.3ha) within twin earthen ramparts with a medial ditch, which have been drawn around the flanks of the hillock and for most of the circuit give the impression of two terraces about 3.5m broad with the outer up to 2.4m below the crest of the inner. Where best preserved, on the NE, the ditch is about 6m in breadth by 1.5m in depth. The margin of the summit of the hillock is fairly sharply defined and this may hide a ploughed down inner enclosure measuring about 40m in overall diameter, though whether this formed part of the defences of the fort or is perhaps a later settlement is not known. Traces of straight improvement-period rigs extend across the whole site from NNE to SSW.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -499658  Y:  7304765  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -4.4885071413764575  Latitude:  54.70470461903033  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County:  Wigtownshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Glasserton
None
Extant   | ✓ |
Cropmark   | ✗ |
Likely Destroyed   | ✗ |
None
Woodland   | ✗ |
Commercial Forestry Plantation   | ✗ |
Parkland   | ✗ |
Pasture (Grazing)   | ✓ |
Arable   | ✗ |
Scrub/Bracken   | ✗ |
Bare Outcrop   | ✗ |
Heather/Moorland   | ✗ |
Heath   | ✗ |
Built-up   | ✗ |
Coastal Grassland   | ✓ |
Other   | ✗ |
None
Contour Fort   | ✓ |
Partial Contour Fort   | ✗ |
Promontory Fort   | ✗ |
Hillslope Fort   | ✗ |
Level Terrain Fort   | ✗ |
Marsh Fort   | ✗ |
Multiple Enclosure Fort   | ✗ |
Hilltop   | ✗ |
Coastal Promontory   | ✗ |
Inland Promontory   | ✗ |
Valley Bottom   | ✗ |
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop   | ✓ |
Ridge   | ✗ |
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp   | ✗ |
Hillslope   | ✗ |
Lowland   | ✗ |
Spur   | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature:  None
North   | ✗ |
Northeast   | ✗ |
East   | ✗ |
Southeast   | ✗ |
South   | ✗ |
Southwest   | ✗ |
West   | ✗ |
Northwest   | ✗ |
Level   | ✓ |
Altitude:  74.0m
N/A
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.
Reliability:  D - None
Pre 1200BC   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC   | ✗ |
800BC - 400BC   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800   | ✗ |
Post AD800   | ✗ |
Unknown   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort:   | None |
Post Hillfort:   | Ploughed-down in the 18th or early 19th century |
By implication the fort appears as a hillock on John Ainslies Map of the County of Wigton in 1782, with the name 'Doonhill Camp' written across what is now Fell of Carleton. The fort is clearly depicted by OS surveyors about 1849 as a tiered wedding cake and named Laggan Camp (Wigtownshire 1850, sheet 33), creating a more faithful rendition than appears on the later 25-inch map (Wigtownshire 1895, sheet 35.6). A description appears in the County Inventory for Wigtownshire (RCAHMS 1912, 9-10, No.5), and RCAHMS revisited in 1951. The OS resurveyed the earthworks at 1:2500 in 1973.
1st Identified Map Depiction (1782):   | John Ainslies Map of the County of Wigton |
Other (1849):   | Named depiction on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Wigtownshire 1850, sheet 33) |
Other (1911):   | Description (RCAHMS 1912, 9-10, No.5) |
Other (1951):   | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
Other (1973):   | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1995):   | Laggan Camp |
Featureless apart from the possible inner enclosure on the summit of the hillock
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
Possible enclosure on summit
No Known Features   | ✗ |
Round Stone Structures   | ✗ |
Rectangular Stone Structures   | ✗ |
Curvilinear Platforms   | ✗ |
Other Roundhouse Evidence   | ✗ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows   | ✗ |
Other   | ✓ |
None
No Known Excavation   | ✓ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Postholes   | ✗ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
Nothing Found   | ✗ |
None
No Known Geophysics   | ✓ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
Nothing Found   | ✗ |
None
No Known Finds   | ✓ |
Pottery   | ✗ |
Metal   | ✗ |
Metalworking   | ✗ |
Human Bones   | ✗ |
Animal Bones   | ✗ |
Lithics   | ✗ |
Environmental   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
None
APs Not Checked   | ✗ |
None   | ✓ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Postholes   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
See main summary
1:   | Ploughed-down so that the detail of the whole circuit is not known |
2:   | None |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
1. Simple Gap (West):   | None |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch around the whole circuit, but there are possible traces of a smaller inner enclosure on the summit of the hillock..
Area 1:   | 0.3ha. |
Total:   | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.6ha.
None
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SW Quadrant:   | 2 |
NW Quadrant:   | 2 |
Total:   | 2 |
Partial Univallate   | ✗ |
Univallate   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate   | ✗ |
Bivallate   | ✓ |
Partial Multivallate   | ✗ |
Multivallate   | ✗ |
Unknown   | ✗ |
Partial Univallate   | ✗ |
Univallate   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate   | ✗ |
Bivallate   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate   | ✗ |
Multivallate   | ✗ |
None
None   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank   | ✓ |
Stone Wall   | ✗ |
Rubble   | ✗ |
Wall-walk   | ✗ |
Evidence of Timber   | ✗ |
Vitrification   | ✗ |
Other Burning   | ✗ |
Palisade   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank   | ✗ |
Berm   | ✗ |
Unfinished   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
None
None   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank   | ✗ |
Stone Wall   | ✗ |
Murus Duplex   | ✗ |
Timber-framed   | ✗ |
Timber-laced   | ✗ |
Vitrification   | ✗ |
Other Burning   | ✗ |
Palisade   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank   | ✗ |
Berm   | ✗ |
Unfinished   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation   | ✓ |
Other   | ✗ |
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
Number of Ditches:  1
✗   | None |
No related records
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1