SC3396: Brox Law   | (River Tweed) |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER:  Scottish Borders 83700
NMR:  NT 63 SE 37 (83700)
SM:  ✗
NGR:  NT 6977 3390
X:  369772  Y:  633901  (EPSG:27700)
Boundary:  ✗
This fort is situated on the rounded summit of Brox Law, which since the late 19th century has been crowned by an octagonal reservoir enclosure. The fort is known only from cropmarks, parchmarks in grass and soilmarks, which at the NE end reveal at least two ditches set about 10m apart, and possibly a third on the N. The inner ditch is the broadest, up to 6m across, and can be traced faintly around most of its circuit, while the soilmarks show the corresponding line of the inner rampart. The interior is oval, measuring about 120m from NE to SW by 60m transversely (0.56ha) and there is an entrance on the NE. The only feature visible within the interior is an enclosure lying between the reservoir and the entrance; sub-square on plan. it measures about 30m across within a ditch up to 3m in breadth and has an entrance in its E side opening towards the entrance of the fort.
Citizen Science:   | ✗   |
Reliability of Data:   | Confirmed |
Reliability of Interpretation:   | Confirmed |
X:  -276212  Y:  7478766  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.481253  Latitude:  55.597822  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders
Historic County:   Roxburghshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Kelso
Extant:   | ✗ |
Cropmark:   | ✓ |
Likely Destroyed:   | ✗ |
Woodland:   | ✗ |
Commercial Forestry Plantation:   | ✗ |
Parkland:   | ✓ |
Pasture (Grazing):   | ✗ |
Arable:   | ✓ |
Scrub/Bracken:   | ✗ |
Bare Outcrop:   | ✗ |
Heather/Moorland:   | ✗ |
Heath:   | ✗ |
Built-up:   | ✗ |
Coastal Grassland:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
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:  ✗
North:   | ✗ |
Northeast:   | ✗ |
East:   | ✗ |
Southeast:   | ✗ |
South:   | ✗ |
Southwest:   | ✗ |
West:   | ✗ |
Northwest:   | ✗ |
Level:   | ✓ |
Altitude:  95.0m
Boundary Type:   | ✗ |
Second HER:  ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  ✗
Second Historic County:  ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  ✗
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:   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC:   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50:   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400:   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800:   | ✗ |
Post AD800:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort Activity:   | ✗   |
Post Hillfort Activity:   | ✓   | Ploughed down and subsequently the site of the reservoir; the sub-square enclosure is possibly a late Iron Age settlement comparable to the enclosures outside Whitcastle Hill |
None:   | No details. |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1993, 1996 and 2000
1st Identified Written Reference (1993):   | Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme |
Featureless apart from the sub-square enclosure
The site of a modern reservoir tank
None:   | ✓ |
Spring:   | ✗ |
Stream:   | ✗ |
Pool:   | ✗ |
Flush:   | ✗ |
Well:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Features:   | ✓ |
Round Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Curvilinear Platforms:   | ✗ |
Other Roundhouse Evidence:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
No Known Geophysics:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
No Known Finds:   | ✓ |
Pottery:   | ✗ |
Metal:   | ✗ |
Metalworking:   | ✗ |
Human Bones:   | ✗ |
Animal Bones:   | ✗ |
Lithics:   | ✗ |
Environmental:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Sub-square enclosure
APs Not Checked:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✓ |
See main summary
Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:   | 1:   | Whole circuit ploughed down |
Number of Possible Original Entrances:   |   |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:   | ✗   |
Entrance 1 (Northeast):   | Simple Gap:   | Certainly through the inner ditch, but the arrangement at the outer, which seems to swing a little wider at this point, is not entirely clear. |
At least two ditches at the NE end, and given the rounded contours these are likely to a have formed a complete circuit
Enclosed Area 1:   | 0.56ha. |
Enclosed Area 2:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 3:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 4:   | ✗ |
Total Enclosed Area:   | 0.6ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  ✗
Multi-period Enclosure System:   | ✗   |
Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:   | ✓   |
Number of Ramparts:   | 3 |
Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:   | 3 |
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Partial Univallate:   | ✓ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate: | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✓ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✗ |
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✓ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✗ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Rubble:   | ✗ |
Wall-walk:   | ✗ |
Evidence of Timber:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✗ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Murus Duplex:   | ✗ |
Timber-framed:   | ✗ |
Timber-laced:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Gang Working:   | ✗  |
Ditches:  ✓
Number of Ditches:   | 2 |
Annex:   | ✗   |
Atlas of Hillforts:  https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C3396
Wikidata:  http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31105529
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.