LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG382 (None)
NMR: NT 01 SE 8 (48500)
SM: 6193
NGR: NT 0825 1058
X: 308250 Y: 610580 (OSGB36)
This strongly defended settlement is situated on gently sloping ground adjacent to the deep gully through which the Auchencat Burn drains the valley running up into the hills to the NE. The defences, which comprise twin ramparts with a medial ditch, describe an angular D-shape on plan to bar access from the N and W, but there is only the slightest of scarps carrying the line of the inner rampart along the edge of the escarpment above the burn to include a small promontory within the interior. The inner rampart measures up to 8m in thickness by 1.5m in height, and while the counterscarp rampart is of much slighter proportions, the ditch is up to 9.5m in breadth by 1m in depth. The entrance is adjacent to the lip of the escarpment on the WSW, where the ramparts return and unite around the terminals of the ditch. A secondary bank can also be seen on the N side of the entrance, mounting the end of the inner rampart and extending along its crest round to the opposite side of the enclosure on the NE; the presence of this refurbishment may account for the minor scarp along the lip of the escarpment above the burn. The main part of the interior is effectively sub-rectangular, measuring about 68m from NE to SW by 35m transversely, but the presence of the promontory extends the transverse measurement to a maximum of 62m (0.21ha). It is also scooped up to 1m into the slope on the NE and contains traces of up to seven house-platforms, the best formed of which is set at the foot of the inner rampart on the NW and measures about 12m in diameter.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -384010 Y: 7436090 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.449624130181551 Latitude: 55.380619981056114 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Dumfriesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Moffat
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: | Overlain by stone dyke |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1988, 1990 and 1991
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1804): | Depicted on William Crawford's Map of Dumfriesshire |
| Other (1857): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfries 1861, sheet 9.11) |
| Earthwork Survey (1890): | Plan and description by David Christison, attributed in the text to Mr J Christison (1891, 232-3, fig 13) |
| Earthwork Survey (1912): | David Christison's plan redrawn with a description by Alexander Curle (RCAHMS 1920, 172, no.485; RCAHMS DFD 8/1 & DP161158) |
| Other (1973): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1991): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1997, 135, fig 132) |
| Other (1995): | Scheduled |
Partly scooped and contains traces of up to seven house-platforms
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
One complete platform up to 10m in diameter and the back-scarps of up to six others
| 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: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (South west): | Ramparts return and unite around the terminals of the ditch |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch
| Area 1: | 0.21ha. |
| Total: | 0.21ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.48ha.
None
| ✓ | There are traces of a bank capping the inner rampart |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Christison, D (1891) 'A general view of the forts, camps, and motes of Dumfriesshire, with a detailed description of those in Upper Annandale, and an introduction to the study of Scottish motes', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 25 (1890-91), 198-256
RCAHMS (1920) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Seventh report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Dumfries. HMSO: Edinburgh
RCAHMS (1997) Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape. 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