SC0244: Drummore Castle | (Castle Hill) |
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG3520
NMR: NX 64 NE 5 (63925)
SM: 1069
NGR: NX 6879 4570
X: 268790 Y: 545700 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
This fort is situated in woodland on the NE side of the broad summit of Castle Hill. Roughly oval on plan, it measures 64m from NE to SW by 48m transversely (0.26ha) within a band of defences comprising at least three ramparts with two intermediate ditches, though the outermost rampart has been obliterated by ploughing on the SE. The innermost rampart presents an external scarp up to 3.5m in height and the inner ditch is of the order of 8m in breadth by 2m in depth. The entrance is on the NE, where there appears to be an additional rampart between the innermost and the outer pair. Described in 1952 by RCAHMS investigators as a hornwork, John Palmer of the OS was probably correct in 1971 when he suggested that the inner rampart had been rebuilt in a secondary phase and realigned within its original line in this sector on the NE, thus reducing the interior to its present size from a maximum extent of as much as 0.32ha.
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Confirmed |
X: -449967 Y: 7321023 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -4.042119 Latitude: 54.789004 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Kirkcudbrightshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kirkcudbright
| Extant: | ✓ |
| Cropmark: | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed: | ✗ |
| Woodland: | ✓ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation: | ✗ |
| Parkland: | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing): | ✗ |
| Arable: | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken: | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland: | ✗ |
| Heath: | ✗ |
| Built-up: | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| 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: ✗
| North: | ✗ |
| Northeast: | ✗ |
| East: | ✗ |
| Southeast: | ✗ |
| South: | ✗ |
| Southwest: | ✗ |
| West: | ✗ |
| Northwest: | ✗ |
| Level: | ✓ |
Altitude: 120.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
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: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✗ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| None: | No details. |
Drummore Castle is named on John Ainslie's map of the Stewartryof Kirkcudbright in 1797, and mistakenly shown as a tower-house on Thomson's later map (1832). Subsequently shown in greater detail in 1850 on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Kircudbrightshire 1854, sheet 54) and sketch-planned by Frederick Coles about 1890 (1891, 359-60). Planned by RCAHMS investigators for the County Inventory for Kirkcudbrightshire (1914, 120-2, no.231) and subsequently revisited in 1952. In 1971 it was resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1797): | Named on John Ainslie's map of The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (1797) |
| Other (1850): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kircudbrightshire 1854, sheet 54) |
| Earthwork Survey (1890): | Sketch plan and description (Coles 1891, 359-60, fig 4) |
| Earthwork Survey (1911): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1914, 120-2, no.231, fig 83) |
| Other (1937): | Scheduled |
| Other (1952): | Description RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1971): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Featureless as a result of later cultivation.
Hollow observed on the S in 1911, when it was compared with a stone filled well
| None: | ✗ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Features: | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Geophysics: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Finds: | ✓ |
| Pottery: | ✗ |
| Metal: | ✗ |
| Metalworking: | ✗ |
| Human Bones: | ✗ |
| Animal Bones: | ✗ |
| Lithics: | ✗ |
| Environmental: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| APs Not Checked: | ✗ |
| None: | ✓ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
See main summary
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 1 |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
| Entrance 1 (Northeast): | Simple Gap |
At least three ramparts but with the appearance of four on the NE where the defences have been rebuilt in a second phase.
| Enclosed Area 1: | 0.3ha. |
| Enclosed Area 2: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 3: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 4: | ✗ |
| Total Enclosed Area: | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.8ha.
| Multi-period Enclosure System: | ✗ |
| Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit: | ✓ |
| Number of Ramparts: | 4 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | 4 |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✓ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✓ |
| Stone Wall: | ✗ |
| Rubble: | ✓ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex: | ✗ |
| Timber-framed: | ✗ |
| Timber-laced: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Gang Working: | ✗ |
Ditches: ✓
| Number of Ditches: | 2 |
| Annex: | ✗ |
Coles, F R (1891) The motes, forts, and doons of The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Proc Soc Antiq Scotland 25352-96
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland, London (p 130)
RCAHMS (1914) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Fifth report and inventory of monuments and constructions in Galloway, II, county of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C0244
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31058022
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.