LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 49810 (None)
NMR: NT 13 NE 1 (49810)
SM: 2880
NGR: NT 1795 3570
X: 317950 Y: 635700 (OSGB36)
The deserted fermtoun around the stump of the old tower at Lour stands within and overlies the ramparts of an earlier fortification. D-shaped on plan, this earlier work encloses a low hillock backing onto the escarpment above the Lour burn on the NE and is defended elsewhere by an arc of twin ramparts with a medial ditch; these were sectioned during excavations in 1959-60, but revealed little detail of their construction (Dunbar and Hay 1961, 202-3). The interior measures some 87m from NW to SE along the lip of the escarpment by 53m transversely (0.44ha), but is entirely obscured by the buildings, yards and gardens of the fermtoun. Deeply worn trackways enter the fermtoun from the NW and SE, and there is also a gap leading through from the SW, but it is unknown whether any of these utilise an original entrance into the fort. A fragment of a glass bangle dating from the 1st or 2nd centuries AD and the upper stone of a rotary quern were recovered during the excavations.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -367801 Y: 7480772 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.3040117950505694 Latitude: 55.60799912517799 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Peeblesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Drumelzier
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: 258.0m
N/A
The recovery of a fragment of glass bangle dating from the 1st or 2nd centuries AD, and the upper stone of a rotary quern probably indicate occupation during the Roman Iron Age, but there is no reason why the defences should date from this period.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Occupied by a post-medieval fermtoun and tower |
| Artefactual: | None |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 2010
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1856): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Peebles 1859, sheet 16.3) |
| Earthwork Survey (1886): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1887, 69-70, pl 5, fig 62) |
| Earthwork Survey (1958): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1967, 130, no.302; 239-43, no.517, fig 243; RCAHMS PBD 173/1 & PBD 256/1-2) |
| Excavation (1959): | By John Dunbar and Geoffrey Hay (1961) |
| Excavation (1960): | By John Dunbar and Geoffrey Hay (1961) |
| Other (1964): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1969): | Scheduled |
| Other (1972): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1974): | Re-Scheduled |
Occupied by a post-medieval tower and fermtoun
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 | ✗ |
Glass bangle and upper stone of a rotary quern
| 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
| 3: | None |
| 2: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Twin ramparts and a medial ditch forming a D-shaped enclosure backing onto the edge of an escarpment
| Area 1: | 0.44ha. |
| Total: | 0.44ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.73ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Ditch
| 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 |
Christison, D (1887) 'The prehistoric forts of Peeblesshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 21 (1886-7), 13-82
Dunbar and Hay, J G and G D (1963) 'Excavations at Lour, Stobo, 1959-60'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 94 (1960-1), 196-205
RCAHMS (1967) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Peeblesshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v. HMSO: Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts:
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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