Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 58985 (None)
NMR: NT 81 NE 18 (58985)
SM: 1713
NGR: NT 8598 1760
X: 385980 Y: 617603 (OSGB36)
This fortification crowns the crest of Hayhope Knowe, which forms the E spur of White Knowe above Kelsocleuch. Its defences comprise three elements, namely a double palisade, a single palisade, and a rampart and ditch; the sequence of their construction, however, is unknown, and though the single palisade trench, which is not visible on the ground, is set immediately to the rear of the rampart, Mrs C M Piggott was unable to unravel their relationship in the limited excavations she conducted in 1949. Nevertheless, as Roger Mercer observed in 1986, the palisade is set a little to the rear of the rampart at the entrance through the earthwork on the E, and the gap in the palisade, the worn hollow into the interior, and the gap in the bank are not strictly aligned, perhaps indicating that the palisade was once a free-standing enclosure. Oval on plan, this enclosure measures about 110m from E to W by 65m transversely (0.55ha), though its course is entirely masked by the rampart around most of the circuit, and by cord rig cultivation at the open W end. This missing sector of the earthwork, and the discontinuous character of the external ditch, which where tested on the NW was 1.8m wide by 0.6m deep, has been interpreted as an unfinished replacement of the palisade, though the symmetry of the enclosure and the way the relatively slight rampart increases in size towards the entrance on the E might indicate that the earthwork is as its builders intended it. Within the interior there are traces of an inner enclosure defined by twin palisade trenches set about 1.5m apart. Also oval on plan, and set roughly concentrically within the rampart, this measures internally 85m from E to W by 50m transversely (0.34ha) and is pierced at either end by an entrance where the palisade trenches return and unite. Traditionally reconstructed as simply two close-set fences, there is no reason why this should not be the foundation for a more sophisticated superstructure, in effect some form of a timber rampart, and should be regarded as a fortification in its own right. Around the N and W flanks, and to a lesser extent on the SE, the two palisade trenches and the low bank between them are overridden by traces of cord rig, but within this halo there are extensive traces of at least fourteen timber round-houses, including double ring-grooves, platforms encircled by single grooves and several small platforms. These are mainly enclosed within the double palisade trenches, though one small platform on the SE is cut through the perimeter. In addition to excavating trenches across the perimeter, Mrs Piggott dug three of the round-houses, recovering a relatively large quantity of coarse pottery, a clay spindle whorl and an iron spearhead, the latter compared at the time with late Iron Age examples in southern England; subsequently Colin Burgess suggested that it might be a rather earlier Hallstatt import (Ritchie 1970), though it is probably too corroded to be dated with any confidence.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -247487 Y: 7450112 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.2232143853370383 Latitude: 55.45211595022922 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Roxburghshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Morebattle
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: 360.0m
N/A
The dating of this fortification to the Early Iron Age rests on a mixture of the assumption of the dating of palisades, the absence of Roman finds, and the tenuous identification of the iron spearhead as a Hallstatt import noted by Anna Ritchie (1970); the latter idea should be discarded (Information from Fraser Hunter).
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | The traces of cord rig overlie the palisades, and while in 1986 Roger Mercer argued that it predated the earthwork element of the defences, there is no clear stratigraphic evidence to sustain this relationship. |
| Artefactual: | The suggestion that the spearhead is a Hallstatt import (Ritchie 1970, 53, 60) should be discarded (information from Fraser Hunter) |
Photographed from the air by CUCAP in 1945, 1970 and 1997, by Dennis Harding in 1982 and 1983, by John Dent in 1992, and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1994 and 2010
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1859): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Roxburghshire 1863, sheet 23) |
| Other (1884): | Noted (Geikie 1884, 142) |
| Other (1897): | Noted by Francis Lynn (1898, 193) |
| Earthwork Survey (1938): | Plan (RCAHMS RXD 371/1) |
| Earthwork Survey (1948): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1956, 342-3, no.665; RCAHMS RXD 371/2 & RXD 371/3; Steer 1949, 65, fig 12) |
| Excavation (1948): | Trial trench by Kenneth Steer to confirm the identification of the palisade |
| Excavation (1949): | Directed by Mrs C M Piggott (1949) |
| Other (1957): | Scheduled |
| Other (1960): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1968): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1973): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1976): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1986): | Plans and description by Roger Mercer (RCAHMS MS2598, DC16007-11, DC16025, DC16091-6, DC16099, DC16337, DC16357-8, DC16379, DC16430; overall plan DC48819 & DP100554) |
| Other (1987): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
| Other (1993): | Re-Scheduled |
At least fourteen timber round-house stances are visible within the interior, including double ring-grooves, platforms encircled by single grooves and several small platforms
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
single and double 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 | ✗ |
Finds from the excavations: included a relatively large quantity of pottery; a clay spindle whorl; and an iron spearhead
| 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
| 2: | None |
| 2: | Generalised into one at either end of the palisaded inner enclosure, with the addition of a third through the earthwork |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | Through the earthen rampart |
| 2. Other Forms (East): | Through the hairpin terminals of the double palisade |
| 3. Other Forms (West): | Through the hairpin terminals of the double palisade |
Excavation revealed a palisade trench at the rear of the rampart, but was unable to demonstrate the relationship between the two. The inner double palisade is regarded here as the foundation of a timber rampart, rather than a free-standing fences
| Area 1: | 0.55ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.34ha. |
| Total: | 0.55ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.74ha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✗ | The palisades have been omitted here |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 | ✗ |
The earthwork is often regarded as unfinished, but if directly associated with the palisade at its rear as a unitary construction, the palisade completes the circuit.
| 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 |
| ✓ | Discontinuous quarry pits |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London. (p 151)
Feachem, R W (1966) The hill-forts of northern Britain'. 59-87 in Rivet, A L F (ed) The iron age in northern Britain. Edinburgh (p 61-2)
Geikie, J (1884) «List of hill forts, intrenched camps, etc. in Roxburghshire on the Scotch side of the Cheviots». Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 10 (1882-4) 139-44
Lynn, F (1898) 'The heads of Bowmont Water'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 16 (1896-8), 185-200
Piggott, C M (1949) 'The Iron Age settlement at Hayhope Knowe, Roxburghshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 83 (1948-9), 45-67
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
Ritchie, A (1970) 'Palisaded sites in north Britain: their context and affinities'. Scot Archaeol Forum 2 (1970), 48-67.
Steer, K A (1949) 'The identification of palisaded enclosures from surface indications'. Appendix I in Piggott, C M (1949), 'The Iron Age settlement at Hayhope Knowe, Roxburghshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 83 (1948-9), 64-7
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