Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 56832 (None)
NMR: NT 60 NW 5 (56832)
SM: 10605
NGR: NT 6429 0623
X: 364290 Y: 606230 (OSGB36)
The remains of a fort overlain by a late Iron Age settlement is situated on a shelf on the gently sloping N flank of Tamshiel Rig. Oval on plan, it probably measures about 70m from E to W by 58m transversely (0.32ha) within twin ramparts with a medial ditch up to 5m broad, but these have been heavily reduced by subsequent cultivation, so much so that neither the complete circuit nor the position of the entrance can be traced on the ground. The cultivation lies within a system of field-banks that, while overlying the fort, were believed by RCAHMS investigators in 1949 to be associated with a later settlement built within the interior. The latter comprises two elements: an oval enclosure with a scooped interior measuring about 42m from N to S by 38m transversely within a wall upwards of 1.5m thick; and at least five stone-founded round-houses, three within the interior of the enclosure, and two overlying the line of its wall on the S. The field-system remains unique in a late or Roman Iron Age context in south-eastern Scotland, and closer parallels are to be found with some of the systems of post-medieval fields. Following removal of the conifers that had been planted across both the fort and the field-system before 1960, five trenches were excavated to evaluate the damage, two of them into stone-founded round-houses on the S side of the interior, one on the line of the inner rampart of the fort, another across the wall of the scooped settlement, and the fifth across one of the field-banks. Other than demonstrating extensive disruption of the sediments and structures by root penetration, little archaeological information was retrieved (Cressey 1996). The only finds from the fort are bee-hive quernstones from the walls of the old sheepfold within the interior, but these are almost certainly associated with the later settlement.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -285499 Y: 7429861 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.5646797758910753 Latitude: 55.348820242167946 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Roxburghshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Southdean
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Ploughed and planted with conifers before 1960, but cleared in 1994 and now maintained within a clearing.
| 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: 265.0m
N/A
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 a late Iron Age settlement and thought to have been heavily reduced by cultivation in this period. Overlain by a stone sheepfold |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1949): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1956, 426-7, no.943, fig 565; RCAHMS RXD 192/1 & DP069181; RXD 192/2-5) |
| Other (1960): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1961): | Scheduled |
| Other (1976): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1990): | De-Scheduled |
| Other (1994): | Managed clearance of the conifer forest (Dent 1994) |
| Other (1996): | Excavation trenches to evaluate disturbance by the afforestation (Cressey 1996; excavation archive held in RCAHMS 551 30/10/26). |
| Other (2003): | Scheduled |
At least five stone-founded round-houses belonging to the late Iron Age settlement, both within and without a scooped setltlement enclosure which also overlies the fort
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Belonging to the overlying late Iron Age settlement, and a scooped settlement enclosure
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✓ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
Excavation trenches in five locations to assess damage caused by afforestation
| 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 | ✗ |
At least three beehive quernstones have been found in the walls of the old sheepfold overlying the fort (Proc Soc Antiq Scot 82, 1947-8, 318; NMS 1996)
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 0: | None |
| 2: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Twin ramparts and a medial ditch
| Area 1: | 0.32ha. |
| Total: | 0.32ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | Clearly overlain by a scooped settlement enclosure and at least five stone-founded round-houses, in addition to the field-banks of the supposedly associated field-system. |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Rubble bank, probably a wall
| 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 |
Cressey, M (1996) 'Tamshiel Rig (Southdean parish), fort, settlement and field system'. Disc Exc Scot (1996), 90-1, fig 28
Dent, J (1994) 'Tamshiel Rig (Southdean parish): quern'. Disc Exc Scot (1994), 6
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
NMS (1996) 'Tamshiel Rig (Southdean parish), rotary quern fragment'. Disc Exc Scot (1996), 91
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