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HER:  Scottish Borders 53011 (None)
NMR:  NT 30 SE 2 (53011)
SM:  None
NGR:  NT 3987 0490
X:  339870  Y:  604900  (OSGB36)
The remains of what may have been a fort or a fortified settlement are situated immediately N of Caerlanrig, which stands on the NE end of a long ridge in the headwaters of the River Teviot. The defences have been heavily degraded, apparently comprising a single rampart and ditch, though little of the rampart is visible. The ditch can be traced for a distance of some 65m along the crest of the slope dropping steeply down to the River Teviot on the NW, set at the foot of a largely natural scarp some 3m high. At the NE end the ditch and traces of the inner rampart turn in an arc through almost 90 degrees before petering out on the NE side, while at the SW end a later ditch appears to cut sharply back at right-angles towards the farm. In 1858 the first OS surveyors to depict the earthworks completed the circuit of the ditch on the NE and SE with a dashed line to create a rectilinear enclosure measuring internally about 75m from NE to SW by 50m transversely (0.38ha). Apart from the NW flank, however, there are no compelling topographical features to limit the size of the enclosure. While described by RCAHMS as a ridge fort, a type where the topography has created a roughly rectilinear plan (RCAHMS 1956, 18), it might equally be described as a strongly enclosed rectilinear settlement. If extending beyond the area shown by the first OS surveyors, it would probably embrace the cottage gardens in which an aureus of Vespasian was discovered in 1856 (RCAHMS 1956, 441, no.992; Canmore 53015); the Wilton Lodge Museum, Hawick also holds a perforated stone disc (HAKMG 4247; Canmore 53017) from Caerlanrig.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Unconfirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed
X:  -328331  Y:  7427055  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.949443799646268  Latitude:  55.33448521474892  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders
Historic County:  Roxburghshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Teviothead
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:  228.0m
N/A
Roman aureus of Vespasian found in the vicinity, but its relationship to the fort is unknown. In the absence of excavation, neither the existence nor the date of this possible fort can be established.
Reliability:  D - None
Pre 1200BC   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC   | ✗ |
800BC - 400BC   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800   | ✗ |
Post AD800   | ✗ |
Unknown   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort:   | None |
Post Hillfort:   | Ramparts and ditches obliterated |
Artefactual:   | Casual discovery of a Roman coin |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1997
Other (1856):   | Casual discovery of a Roman Coin Kelso Mail, 4th Aug 1856, (RCAHMS 1956, 441, no.992) |
1st Identified Map Depiction (1858):   | Annotated Camp in Roman type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Roxburgh 1863, sheet 31.15) |
Other (1948):   | Description |
Other (1962):   | Revised at 1:10,560 by the OS |
Other (2015):   | RCAHMS investigators considered that little of what has been attributed to the rampart and ditch on the NW is artificial |
Featureless
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   | ✗ |
None known
0:   | None |
2:   | None known |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
Single rampart and ditch with possible counterscarp bank
Area 1:   | 0.38ha. |
Total:   | 0.38ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✗   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
SE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SW Quadrant:   | 0 |
NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Total:   | 1 |
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 (1956) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Roxburghshire: with the fourteenth report of the Commission, 2v. 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