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HER:  The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 10294 (None)
NMR:  NS 84 SW 2 (46670)
SM:  2882
NGR:  NS 8323 4343
X:  283231  Y:  643431  (OSGB36)
On the SE flank of the fort on Black Hill, at the southern end of its elongated summit, its rampart has been incorporated into the circuit of an oval settlement earthwork measuring 78m from NE to SW by 58m transversely (0.35ha) within twin ramparts about 4.6m in thickness and standing 0.6m in height above the bottom of a medial ditch; two crescentic scarps on the W are probably the remains of house platforms and the entrance is on the SW. While the curious junction with the neighbouring fort on the NW appears on plan at least to disrupt its defensive integrity, its hilltop position and the character of its perimeter qualify for inclusion as a fort in its own right.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -429487  Y:  7493066  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -3.8581485240314284  Latitude:  55.6703334339478  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  South Lanarkshire
Historic County:  Lanarkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Lesmahagow
None
Extant   | ✓ |
Cropmark   | ✗ |
Likely Destroyed   | ✗ |
Formerly under a 19th century plantation
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:  290.0m
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:   | Earlier hillfort and Bronze Age cairn |
Post Hillfort:   | Ploughed down and planted with trees |
Having been covered with trees since the early 19th century, the fort was first noted during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands in 1955 and was planned in 1959 (RCAHMS 1978, 94-5, no.217 fig 48). It was surveyed by the OS at 1:2500 in 1966 and Scheduled in 1969.
Other (1955):   | Discovered RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
Earthwork Survey (1959):   | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1978, 94-5, no.217 fig 48; RCAHMS LAD 29/1; LAD 29/2 & SC337263) |
1st Identified Map Depiction (1966):   | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1969):   | Scheduled |
At least two and possibly five round-house platforms
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
Two platforms
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:   | Obliterated in the E sector |
2:   | None |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
1. Simple Gap (South west):   | None |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch
Area 1:   | 0.35ha. |
Total:   | 0.35ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.6ha.
None
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SW Quadrant:   | 2 |
NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
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 |
RCAHMS (1978) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Lanarkshire: an inventory of the prehistoric and Roman monuments. HMSO: Edinburgh
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