LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 54353 (None)
NMR: NT 43 NE 2 (54353)
SM: 2448
NGR: NT 4655 3847
X: 346550 Y: 638470 (OSGB36)
The fort at Torwoodlee, which is better known for the broch overlying its defences (Curle 1892), is situated on a gently sloping position on the E spur of Mains Hill, and while the approach from the W is relatively level, the ground falls away more steeply around the rest of the circuit. The defences are best preserved on the W and N, comprising at least two ramparts and ditches, the outer accompanied by a counterscarp bank, but they have been heavily distorted by stone-robbing, cultivation and tree planting, and little more than the line of the outer rampart can be followed through the improved fields in the S sector; the only trace of an entrance is a gap on the ENE. Oval on plan, the interior is probably rather smaller than the dimensions given by RCAHMS investigators, which appear to have conflated the inner and medial circuits at various points, and measures about 125m from N to S by a little over 100m transversely (c.1.1ha). Apart from the foundation of the broch, nothing is visible within the interior, the southern third of which has been subjected to shallow surface quarrying. Excavations in 1891 (Curle 1892) and 1950 (Piggott 1951) conclusively demonstrated that the broch was occupied in the Roman Iron Age, and that its wall overlies the inner rampart of the fort; the ditch encircling the broch is also cut through the inner rampart and recuts a segment of the inner fort ditch (Piggott 1951). Where the inner rampart was sectioned it measured about 3m in thickness and was composed of stones and yellow clay, and was fronted by a V-cut ditch was at least 4m in breadth by 2.5m in depth; there were traces of shallow quarrying to its rear. The medial rampart was entirely robbed out opposite the broch, but a section on the N revealed three courses of its outer face. Apart from a ring of post-holes probably associated with a timber round-house predating the broch, little trace of any occupation was recorded in a series of trenches excavated on the W side of the fort interior. Finds relating to this earlier occupation are limited to a few sherds of coarse pottery and a rotary quern from low down in the fill of the inner ditch, though one pit containing Roman pottery predated the construction of the broch and Roman finds were recovered from the core of its wall. The interior of the broch produced a rich assemblage of material, including a bronze terret and an enamelled stud, and a fragment of a glass armlet, while Roman goods include sherds of Samian, coarse wares and amphorae, and fragments of green and amber coloured glass (See Piggott 1951, 110-13). Amongst the mass of tumbled stones filling the ditch of the broch a rough cist containing the inhumation of a woman was discovered.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -317330 Y: 7486464 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.8506260461548476 Latitude: 55.63687220100223 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Selkirkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Caddonfoot
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: 250.0m
N/A
Extensive assemblage of Roman pottery and glass firmly dates the broch to the 1st/2nd centuries AD, but the roman sherds incorporated into the core of its wall and in an earlier pit shows that Roman goods were already circulating on the site before the broch was constructed. The bronze terret and an enamelled stud, and a fragment of glass armlet are presumably of similar date if not manufacture. The rotary quernstone from the lower fill of the inner ditch may also indicate that the fort defences were maintained until a relatively late date.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Construction of a broch. More recently heavy stone-robbing, quarrying cultivation and tree planting. |
| Artefactual: | Roman goods from overlying contexts |
The excavation archive is held by RCAHMS, which also holds aerial photographs by its Aerial Survey Programme taken in 1982, 1989, 1991 and 1992
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1858): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Selkirk 1863, sheet 4.13) |
| Excavation (1891): | By James Wilson (Curle 1892) |
| Earthwork Survey (1891): | Plan published by James Curle (1892, pl 2) |
| Other (1894): | Description by David Christison (1895, 122-3) |
| Excavation (1950): | Directed by Stuart Piggott (1951) |
| Earthwork Survey (1950): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1957, 88-91, no.118, fig 110; RCAHMS SED 44/1-5) |
| Other (1961): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1964): | Scheduled |
| Other (1976): | Visited by the Hill-fort Study Group |
Featureless on the surface apart from the broch, which was found to overlie a timber round-house
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Broch
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
A ring of postholes was found eccentrically within the broch and probably relate to earlier occupation of the fort. Possible surface quarrying was detected to the rear of the inner rampart.
| 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 | ✗ |
Extensive assemblage of Roman pottery and glass from the broch, together with a bronze terret and an enamelled stud, and a fragment of glass armlet. Few sherds of earlier coarse pottery and daub were also recovered and carbonised fragments of several wooden vessels.
| 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 | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | Large sectors of the defences have been severely denuded |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | Possible gap in a denuded sector |
At least two ramparts and ditches, the outer accompanied by a counterscarp bank. A linear earthwork also loops past the fort on the N but this does not form part of the defences (see annexe section)
| Area 1: | 1.1ha. |
| Total: | 1.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.21ha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 | ✗ |
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: 2
| ✗ | While there is no annexe as such, an outlying linear earthwork loops round the N side of the fort, disappearing on the slopes to the NE and SW; whether it is part of a large enclosure surrounding the fort or a system dropping down the slope to the SE, where there are records of another linear earthwork traditionally held to be the end of the Catrail, is not known |
Christison, D (1895) 'The forts of Selkirk, the Gala Water, the Southern slopes of the Lammermoors, and the north of Roxburgh'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 29 (1894-50), 108-79
Curle, J (1892) 'Notes on two brochs recently discovered at Bow, Midlothian, and Torwoodlee, Selkirkshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 26 (1891-2), 71-84
Feachem, R W (1977) Guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 154-5)
Piggott, S (1951) 'Excavations in the broch and hill-fort of Torwoodlee, Selkirkshire, 1950'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 85 (1950-1), 92-117
RCAHMS (1957) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Selkirkshire with the fifteenth report of the Commission. 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