LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 10737 (None)
NMR: NS 94 SE 23 (47653)
SM: None
NGR: NS 9816 4018
X: 298160 Y: 640180 (OSGB36)
Cropmarks have revealed a fortified enclosure around a low hillock on the SE flank of this broad rounded hill dropping down from Hillhead to the NW bank of the River Clyde. First observed by RCAHMS investigators on vertical aerial photographs (RAF/106G/Scot/UK 86: 4107- 8), it has since been photographed as a cropmark, though the latter is diffuse and does not clarify the configuration of the defences. Nevertheless, these apparently comprise two elements: an outer enclosure measuring about 110, from N to S by 60m transversely within twin banks with a medial ditch (0.5ha); and an inner enclosure measuring about 65m from N to S by 50m transversely (0.25ha) within a bank with a broad external ditch, which appears to encircle the foot of the hillock. The entrance to the outer enclosure is probably on the W. Further elucidation of the character of the defences must await further work, but it is likely that the inner and outer enclosures represent separate phases of construction.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -402942 Y: 7487968 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.6196896826296583 Latitude: 55.644496443746775 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: South Lanarkshire
Historic County: Lanarkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Covington And Thankerton
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: 220.0m
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 flat |
Probably the first of two earthworks noted by George Irving in 1854 (Irving 1855, 26), this site is otherwise only known from aerial photographs and was first identified during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands in the early 1950s and was visited in 1969 during the preparation of the County Inventory for Lanarkshire (RCAHMS 1978, 152, no.304). It was visited by the OS in 1968. It was photographed by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1977 and 1992
| Earthwork Survey (1855): | Irving 1855, 26, pl 2 fig 21 |
| Other (1957): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands from vertical aerial photographs in the early 1950s |
| Other (1968): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1969): | Description (RCAHMS 1978, 152, no.304) |
| Other (1977): | First photographed by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme |
Featureless apart from the unploughed part of the hillock
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | Ploughed flat |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (West): | None |
Twin banks with a medial ditch forming the outer enclosure and a single bank and ditch the inner
| Area 1: | 0.25ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.5ha. |
| Total: | 0.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Representing the outer enclosure below and omitting the inner |
| 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: 2
| ✗ | None |
Irving, G V (1855) 'On ancient camps of the upper ward of Lanarkshire', J Brit Archaeol Ass 10 (1855), 1-32
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