LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 11109 (None)
NMR: NT 04 SE 4 (48950)
SM: 2668
NGR: NT 0650 4119
X: 306500 Y: 641190 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the hillock forming the summit of Castle Hill above Candybank, where the ground falls away steeply on the S and W, but shelves more gently around the NE quarter. At first sight, the defences on the S comprise three concentric ramparts enclosing an oval interior measuring 85m from E to W by 56m transversely. The outermost, however, which has been almost ploughed out around the other three-quarters of the circuit, can be seen on aerial photographs taken under snow by RCAHMS in the winter of 1991 swinging much wider round the N side of the fort, where it may also be accompanied by an external ditch. While this outer enclosure might be construed as an annexe to the inner fort, it is as likely to be the remains of an earlier enclosure measuring about 130m from E to W by 120m transversely (1.5ha). Where best preserved the inner rampart forms a stony bank 7.3m in thickness by up to 2m in height externally, but elsewhere both it and the medial rampart, and indeed the rampart of the earlier enclosure, are reduced to scarps. Apart from some relatively recent quarry-pits, extensive evidence of internal quarrying can be seen to the rear of the innermost rampart around the whole circuit, but it is likely that the inner and middle ramparts also have external ditches. The entrance is on the ESE, where a slight stagger in the gaps in the ramparts has created an oblique approach that exposes the visitor's right side. The stances of at least six timber round-houses can be seen within the SE half of the interior, their remains including well-defined levelled platforms and more fugitive traces of grooves. In the best-defined of the platforms, cut back into the rock immediately up from the internal quarry scoop behind the rampart on the S, what is probably the foundation trench for the wall can be seen extending round the floor of the platform.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -388235 Y: 7490089 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.4875716771016725 Latitude: 55.65524577989191 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: South Lanarkshire
Historic County: Lanarkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Biggar
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: 303.0m
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: | Partly ploughed down on the N and several quarry pits dug into the ramparts |
Photographed under both drought and snow cover by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1981, 1982, 1986, 1989 and 1991, and CUCAP in 1955 and 1972
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1816): | Annotated Camp on William Forrest's map of The county of Lanark from actual survey (1816) |
| Other (1858): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Lanark 1864, sheet 34.2) |
| Earthwork Survey (1889): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1890, 235-6, fig 29) |
| Earthwork Survey (1958): | Plan by RCAHMS (RCAHMS LAD 131/1) |
| Other (1967): | Scheduled |
| Other (1971): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1975): | Plan based on survey of 1958 and description (RCAHMS 1978, 96-97, no.222, fig 51; RCAHMS LAD 131/2) |
| Other (2015): | Visited by SH |
Extensive traces of platforms and timber round-houses in the SE half of the interior
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
At least six timber round-house stances. Ring-grooves
| 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 | ✗ |
Details include the foundation trenches of timber round-houses
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 3: | None |
| 2: | Staggered gaps |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Oblique (East): | Slightly staggered gaps. Oblique approach exposing right side. |
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | Opposed terminals in all ramparts |
Three ramparts, the inner two concentric, but the outermost swinging wide round one side
| Area 1: | 0.39ha. |
| Area 2: | 1.5ha. |
| Total: | 1.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.5ha.
None
| ✓ | While the stratigraphy cannot be demonstrated by survey, the apparently concentric outer rampart on the S flank detaches itself to swing much wider round the N flank to create a probably earlier enclosure that would have been three times the size. |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✓ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Grass-grown rubble
| 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 |
| ✓ | The inner and medial ramparts are probably accompanied by ditches |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✓ | The course of the outer rampart swings much wider round the N flank, and while this might be construed as an annexe, it might equally well be the remains of a freestanding earlier enclosure |
Christison, D (1890) 'Forts, camps, and motes of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 24 (1889-90), 281-352
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