HER:  Scottish Borders 54413 (None)
NMR:  NT 43 NW 7 (54413)
SM:  2497
NGR:  NT 4396 3551
X:  343960  Y:  635510  (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the summit of the low hill overlooking the roundabout at the junction of the A72 and A707 public roads. A steep escarpment bounds the NW margin of the summit and has escaped cultivation, but the gentler slopes to the S and E lie within improved fields, while the narrow strip between the upper boundary of the fields, which traverses the fort from NE to SW, and the escarpment also bears traces of extensive rig and furrow. Nevertheless, the stubs of three ramparts with intermediate ditches can be seen in this strip of ground at either end of the fort, those on the SW being rather better preserved and forming a belt some 18m deep, while cropmarks have revealed the two ditches in the fields to the SE; indeed the circuit probably once extended along the escarpment on the NW, where the ramparts are reduced to distorted fragments of terraces on the slope. An elongated D-shape on plan, the featureless interior measures about 140m from from NE to SW by 90m transversely (0.12ha). No entrances have been observed.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -321842  Y:  7481164  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.8911600898146372  Latitude:  55.60998649509191  (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:  193.0m
N/A
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   | ✗ |
800BC - 400BC   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800   | ✗ |
Post AD800   | ✗ |
Unknown   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort:   | None |
Post Hillfort:   | Partly ploughed down and overridden by a field dyke |
Photographed by CUCAP in 1979, and RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1982 and 1999
1st Identified Map Depiction (1858):   | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Selkirk 1863, sheet 7.8) |
Other (1894):   | Description, with measurements attributed to James Wilson (Christison 1895, 114-15) |
Earthwork Survey (1950):   | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1957, 91-2, no.119, fig 112; RCAHMS SED 9/1-2) |
Other (1965):   | Scheduled |
Other (1966):   | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1979):   | 1:2500 checked by OS |
Featureless apart from rig-and-furrow, though in 1966 an OS surveyor suggested there was a small scooped enclosure at the NE end
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
None
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   | ✗ |
Stray finds include a fragment of a glass bangle and a rotary quern in NMAS and a spindle whorl in Wilton Lodge, Hawick (HAKMG 4195)
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   | ✗ |
None known
0:   | None |
2:   | None known |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
Three ramparts with intermediate ditches
Area 1:   | 0.12ha. |
Total:   | 0.12ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.18ha.
None
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 3 |
SE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SW Quadrant:   | 3 |
NW Quadrant:   | 2 |
Total:   | 3 |
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
✗   | None |
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
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