Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland
SC0315: Waterside   | |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER:  Dumfries & Galloway MDG4534
NMR:  NX 86 NW 4 (64961)
SM:  ✗
NGR:  NX 8090 6595
X:  280900  Y:  565950  (EPSG:27700)
Boundary:  ✗
Summary
This small fortification comprises two elements, namely a rampart with external ditch cutting off the SE approaches to this steep-side promontory, and an inner enclosure standing to its rear. While no evidence can be advanced for any sequence between the two, the outer may be a promontory work in its own right, with its rampart reduced to no more than 0.6m in height behind a ditch some 10m in breadth, cutting off a triangular area measuring 85m from NE to SW by 50m transversely (0.21ha). The inner enclosure is subsquare on plan, measuring some 35m across (0.12ha) within a ploughed down rampart with an external ditch also about 10m broad. While the rampart of the inner enclosure is only visible on the E, it may have continued around both the N and S sides. The entrance was probably along the N margin of the promontory, where a more modern track can be followed to a gap in the inner enclosure near its NW corner.
Status
Citizen Science:   | ✗   | |
Reliability of Data:   | Confirmed | |
Reliability of Interpretation:   | Confirmed:   | The promontory enclosure meets the 0.2ha threshold and is confirmed as such, but it is conceivable that this is some form of medieval castle with bailey. |
Location
X:  -429946  Y:  7356804  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -3.862269  Latitude:  54.973908  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County:   Kirkcudbrightshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Urr
Condition
Extant:   | ✓ |
Cropmark:   | ✗ |
Likely Destroyed:   | ✗ |
Land Use
Woodland:   | ✗ |
Commercial Forestry Plantation:   | ✗ |
Parkland:   | ✗ |
Pasture (Grazing):   | ✓ |
Arable:   | ✓ |
Scrub/Bracken:   | ✗ |
Bare Outcrop:   | ✗ |
Heather/Moorland:   | ✗ |
Heath:   | ✗ |
Built-up:   | ✗ |
Coastal Grassland:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Landscape
Hillfort Type
Contour Fort:   | ✗ |
Partial Contour Fort:   | ✗ |
Promontory Fort:   | ✓ |
Hillslope Fort:   | ✗ |
Level Terrain Fort:   | ✗ |
Marsh Fort:   | ✗ |
Multiple Enclosure Fort:   | ✗ |
Topographic Position
Hilltop:   | ✗ |
Coastal Promontory:   | ✗ |
Inland Promontory:   | ✓ |
Valley Bottom:   | ✗ |
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop:   | ✗ |
Ridge:   | ✗ |
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp:   | ✗ |
Hillslope:   | ✗ |
Lowland:   | ✗ |
Spur:   | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature:  ✗
Aspect
North:   | ✗ |
Northeast:   | ✗ |
East:   | ✗ |
Southeast:   | ✗ |
South:   | ✗ |
Southwest:   | ✗ |
West:   | ✗ |
Northwest:   | ✗ |
Level:   | ✓ |
Elevation
Altitude:  35.0m
Boundary
Boundary Type:   | ✗ | |
Second HER:  ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  ✗
Second Historic County:  ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  ✗
Dating Evidence
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:   | ✗   | |
Investigations
First noted about 1892 by Frederick Coles (1893, 106), the site was depicted on the OS 25-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1894, sheet 36.14), and a description and plan appear in the County Inventory for The Stewartry (RCAHMS 1914, 276-7, no.490, fig 186). Finding the plan little more than an inaccurate sketch, RCAHMS replanned the earthworks in 1952, at which time they were considered probably medieval. The OS re-surveyed the site at 1:2500 in 1963.
Interior Features
Featureless
Water Source
None:   | ✓ |
Spring:   | ✗ |
Stream:   | ✗ |
Pool:   | ✗ |
Flush:   | ✗ |
Well:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Surface
No Known Features:   | ✓ |
Round Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Curvilinear Platforms:   | ✗ |
Other Roundhouse Evidence:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Excavation
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
Geophysics
No Known Geophysics:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
Finds
No Known Finds:   | ✓ |
Pottery:   | ✗ |
Metal:   | ✗ |
Metalworking:   | ✗ |
Human Bones:   | ✗ |
Animal Bones:   | ✗ |
Lithics:   | ✗ |
Environmental:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Aerial
APs Not Checked:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✓ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Entrances
See main summary
Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:   | 1  | |
Number of Possible Original Entrances:   |   | |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:   | ✗   | |
Enclosing Works
Promontory enclosure with inner enclosure
Enclosed Area 1:   | 0.21ha. |
Enclosed Area 2:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 3:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 4:   | ✗ |
Total Enclosed Area:   | 0.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.47ha.
Multi-period Enclosure System:   | ✗   | |
Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:   | ✗   | Only the promontory enclosure is taken account of here |
Number of Ramparts:   | 1 | |
Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:   | ✗ |
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:   | ✗ |
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:   | ✗ |
Current Morphology
Partial Univallate:   | ✓ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate: | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✗ |
Multi-period Morphology
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Surface Evidence
None:   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✓ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Rubble:   | ✗ |
Wall-walk:   | ✗ |
Evidence of Timber:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Excavated Evidence
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
Gang Working:   | ✗  | |
Ditches
Ditches:  ✓
Number of Ditches:   | 1 | |
Annex
Annex:   | ✗   | |
References
Coles, F R (1893) 'The motes, forts, and doons in the east and west divisions of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 27, 92-182
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.