Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC1329 Wardlaw Hill, Ayrshire

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 6556 (None)

NMR:  NS 33 SE 5 (41985)

SM:  306

NGR:  NS 3592 3276

X:  235920  Y:  632760  (OSGB36)

Summary

The remains of this fort are situated on the summit of Wardlaw Hill, but its defences are heavily reduced by cultivation, so much so that the precise course of the eastern half is unknown. Nevertheless, the interior is probably oval on plan, measuring up to 95m from NE to SW by 60m transversely within a rampart up to 4.5m in thickness by 0.6m in height. This is best preserved on the NW, but can be traced as a scarp some 2.5m in height around the SW quarter, where there is also evidence of a ditch 4.5m in breadth and a counterscarp rampart 5m in thickness by 0.5m in height. The interior is featureless and the position of the entrance is unknown. A trial excavation on the NW in 1985 demonstrated that the rampart is constructed of earth and stone and overlies an earlier bank, which was already heavily denuded and spread at the time of the rampart's construction (Halpin 1992, 121-6). The earlier bank seems to have been constructed of material stripped from the surfaces both inside and outside its line, whereas the later rampart had a core of large stones and boulders. The excavator suggested that two narrow, stone-lined trenches set about 2m apart immediately within the interior may have held upright timbers revetting the rampart, but while these were apparently cut through deposits washed off the earlier bank there is no compelling evidence to relate them to the structure of the rampart, nor indeed that they held timberwork.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -512434  Y:  7471489  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.603274108139964  Latitude:  55.56086621777508  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  South Ayrshire

Historic County:  Ayrshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Dundonald

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant  
Cropmark  
Likely Destroyed  

Land Use

None

Current Use:
Woodland  
Commercial Forestry Plantation  
Parkland  
Pasture (Grazing)  
Arable  
Scrub/Bracken  
Bare Outcrop  
Heather/Moorland  
Heath  
Built-up  
Coastal Grassland  
Other  

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort  
Partial Contour Fort  
Promontory Fort  
Hillslope Fort  
Level Terrain Fort  
Marsh Fort  
Multiple Enclosure Fort  

Topographic Position

Position:
Hilltop  
Coastal Promontory  
Inland Promontory  
Valley Bottom  
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop  
Ridge  
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp  
Hillslope  
Lowland  
Spur  

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North  
Northeast  
East  
Southeast  
South  
Southwest  
West  
Northwest  
Level  

Altitude:  145.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

No dating evidence was recovered for the defences

Reliability:  D - None

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC  
1200BC - 800BC  
800BC - 400BC  
400BC - AD50  
AD50 - AD400  
AD400 - AD 800  
Post AD800  
Unknown  

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   Pit cut into the land surface beneath the earlier bank
Post Hillfort:   Ploughed down

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

First depicted in 1857 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Ayrshire 1860, sheet 22.11), it was described in the early 1890s by both David Christison (Christison 1893, 393, pl vi fig 2) and John Smith (Smith 1895, 120-1). RCAHMS visited the fort in 1952 during its survey of Marginal Lands and it was Scheduled in 1953. The OS visited in 1954 and revised the 1:2500 depiction in 1982. RCAHMS revisited it in 1985 and in the same year an evaluation trench was excavated across the defences on the NW (Halpin 1992).

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1857):   Annotated Intrenchment on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Ayrshire 1860, sheet 22.11)
Earthwork Survey (1891):   Sketch-plan and description (Christison 1893, 390 fig 2, 393)
Other (1895):   Description by John Smith (1895, 120-1)
Other (1952):   Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands
Other (1953):   Scheduled
Other (1954):   Visited by the OS
Other (1982):   Revised at 1:2500 by the OS
Excavation (1985):   Evaluation (Halpin 1992)
Other (1985):   Description by RCAHMS

Interior Features

Featureless

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

None

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features  
Round Stone Structures  
Rectangular Stone Structures  
Curvilinear Platforms  
Other Roundhouse Evidence  
Pits  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  

Excavation

None

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Roads/Tracks  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  
Nothing Found  

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics  
Pits  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Roads/Tracks  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  
Nothing Found  

Finds

None

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds  
Pottery  
Metal  
Metalworking  
Human Bones  
Animal Bones  
Lithics  
Environmental  
Other  

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked  
None  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roads/Tracks  
Other  

Entrances

None known

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
0:   Large sectors ploughed down

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   No entrance known

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:No related records

Enclosing Works

Twin ramparts with a medial ditch on the SW, but only one rampart elsewhere. Rampart shown to have been constructed in at least two phases

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.4ha.
Total:   0.4ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✓   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   1
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   2
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   2

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  
Unknown  

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  

Surface Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None  
Earthen Bank  
Stone Wall  
Rubble  
Wall-walk  
Evidence of Timber  
Vitrification  
Other Burning  
Palisade  
Counter Scarp Bank  
Berm  
Unfinished  
Other  

Excavated Evidence

Stone-lined trenches immediately within the line of the rampart were interpreted as palisade trenches or revetments, but in the case of the outer the timbers would have been of the order of 0.6m in thickness, a scale otherwise unknown in the timberwork of Scottish hillforts. Stratigraphically they possibly represent much later activity, perhaps even the result of post-medieval agriculture. Rampart has two phases - earther bank, then rubble core.

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None  
Earthen Bank  
Stone Wall  
Murus Duplex  
Timber-framed  
Timber-laced  
Vitrification  
Other Burning  
Palisade  
Counter Scarp Bank  
Berm  
Unfinished  
No Known Excavation  
Other  

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✓   None

Number of Ditches:  1

Annex:
✗   None

References

Christison, D (1893) 'The Prehistoric Forts of Ayrshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 27 (1892-93), 381-405.

Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 110)

Halpin E 1992 'Harpercroft and Wardlaw hill', in Rideout, J S, Owen, O A, & Halpin, E (eds) 'Hillforts of southern Scotland'. Edinburgh, pp.121-6

Smith, J (1895) Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire. London.



Terms of Use

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


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