Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC3294 Bonchester Hill, Roxburghshire

HER:  Scottish Borders 55300 (None)

NMR:  NT 51 SE 10 (55300)

SM:  2173

NGR:  NT 5950 1170

X:  359500  Y:  611700  (OSGB36)

Summary

A complex fortification is situated on the summit of Bonchester Hill, which overlooks Bonchester Bridge from the E and presents rugged crag around its southern flank. Two episodes of excavation have occurred here, in 1906 (Curle 1910) and 1950 (Piggott 1950), but it would be unwise to think that either the complexity or the chronology of the sequence are understood. The sequence adopted in the RCAHMS County Inventory (RCAHMS 1956, 150-2, no.277) was worked out in co-operation with the more recent excavator, Mrs C M Piggott, and places the innermost enclosure on the hill first, though it should be noted that Mrs Piggott recognised evidence of earlier occupation beneath its wall where it was sectioned on both the N and W. Measuring from 3m to 3.6m in thickness, this wall enclosed an oval area measuring 105m from N to S by 85m transversely (0.67ha); the W section, however suggested that the surviving outer face rested on an earlier bank of rubble, beneath the inner edge of which, and resting on the traces of earlier occupation, the upper stone of a rotary quern was discovered. This may provide a terminus post quem for both phases of the circuit here in the late Iron Age. Further complexity was uncovered immediately outside the wall of the inner enclosure on the N, where two lines of ramparts were uncovered, of which only the outer could be traced laterally, extending down to an entrance on the cliff-edge to the E; considered outworks to provide additional protection on this flank, this is a patently naive interpretation, and the section revealed that the inner of them had been built across an earlier paved surface. Notable features of the inner enclosure are its three entrances, on the N, E and SW respectively, each displaying an unusual degree of elaboration. At the E entrance a track climbs obliquely up the slope from the gap in the outer rampart noted above, exposing the approaching visitor's left side, but where the track turns in through the entrance itself, the N terminal also turns inwards, at this point exposing the visitor's right side. In contrast, both terminals of the N entrance are turned inwards, while at the S entrance they are simply staggered to expose the visitor's right side. The outer defences are no less complex and for the purposes of description can be divided into three elements, namely an inner enclosure of some 1.6ha, an outer enclosure of 2.6ha taking in the N and W slopes above the cliff-line, and further ramparts below the cliff-line on the SE that extend the overall footprint of the fortifications by a further 1ha. The perimeter of the inner these enclosures, varied in the different sections cut across it, from a bank of soil on the N to an unstructured mound of large boulders on the W, while nearby on this side an outer face of orthostatic slabs set below horizontally coursed slabs was revealed, a form of construction that was only known to Mrs Piggott in what she considered to be early medieval contexts; no reliance can be placed upon this chronology today. Like the other ramparts, those of the outer circuit vary in character from cutting to cutting, from a single faced wall on the W to a two period construction of double ramparts and ditches on the N; the earlier phase was a simple dump, sealed beneath a turf-line in both ramparts, while in the second the inner was faced on either side and surmounted by a double row of posts driven into its crest. There appear to have been numerous entrances through these outer defences, though it is difficult on the information available to distinguish between original gaps and later breaks. Nevertheless, there are probably entrances through the inner of the outer enclosures on the NNE, ENE and WSW, while the plan published by Mrs Piggott shows another four gaps in the circuit on the NW quarter, and of the eight shown in the outer, those on the N, NNE, ENE W, and NW are likely to be original. The outer of the two lines below the cliff-edge also has a well-defined entrance on the SSE, though how these ramparts and ditches relate to the rest of the defences is quite unknown. No fewer than twenty-eight round-houses can be identified within the interior of the fort, most of them with stone founded walls and likely to be of late iron Age date; while Mrs Piggott asserted that several were contemporary with adjacent ramparts, where a relationship is in evidence they more typically overlie the defences.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -293995  Y:  7439417  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -2.641005949676555  Latitude:  55.39759713400711  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders

Historic County:  Roxburghshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Hobkirk

Monument Condition

None

Condition:

Extant	✓
Cropmark	✗
Likely Destroyed	✗

Land Use

None

Current Use:

Woodland	✗
Commercial Forestry Plantation	✗
Parkland	✗
Pasture (Grazing)	✓
Arable	✗
Scrub/Bracken	✗
Bare Outcrop	✗
Heather/Moorland	✓
Heath	✗
Built-up	✗
Coastal Grassland	✗
Other	✗

Landscape

Boundary

N/A

Interior Features

At least twenty-eight round-houses identified on the plan, of which the majority are stone founded.

Entrances

Enclosing Works

A complex succession of walls and ramparts encircling the hill, but with no clear evidence of either chronology or sequence.

Enclosed Area:

Area 1:	0.67ha.
Area 2:	1.6ha.
Area 3:	2.6ha.
Area 4:	3.6ha.
Total:	3.6ha.

Total Footprint Area:  3.6ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:

✓	Evidently multiperiod and complex, but without clear evidence of stratigraphic relationships to reveal the sequence.

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:

✓	None

Number of Ramparts:  

NE Quadrant:	6
SE Quadrant:	3
SW Quadrant:	4
NW Quadrant:	3
Total:	6

References

Document Version 1.1