LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 51277 (None)
NMR: NT 23 NE 9 (51277)
SM: 2942
NGR: NT 2862 3721
X: 328620 Y: 637210 (OSGB36)
This fort stands on the spur that descends NNE from Kailzie Hill between Laverlaw on the E and Kailzie Mains on the W. Oval on plan, in 1959 RCAHMS investigators identified two separate elements here, the later being a settlement with two walls, which on the S and W overlies an earlier defence comprising twin ramparts with a medial ditch and is accompanied on the S by an outer rampart with an external ditch. These earlier defences they considered unfinished, largely because the medial ditch on the SE appears to diverge on a wider arc from the line of the inner of the two walls on the E, but also because the walls around the E and N seemed relatively slight and no more than 2.4m thick. In truth, however, these latter are no more than bands of rubble left after the walls have been heavily robbed, and not only are their thicknesses quite unknown, but, other than the different alignment of the ditch on the SE, the stratigraphic relationship with the earlier ramparts is difficult to demonstrate in the field. The enclosure defined by the two bands of rubble is roughly oval and measures internally about 65m from ESE to WNW by 58m transversely (0.3ha), a gap in the outer on the NW possibly marking the position of the entrance. On the S, where there is little trace of either band of rubble, the inner rampart stands up to 1.5m high internally, and the medial ditch is up to 6m in breadth by 2m in depth. The additional rampart with external ditch merely cuts across teh spine of the spur where it slopes gently down towards the fort on the S. The presence of both four stony ring-banks and two shallow platforms led the RCAHMS investigators in 1959 to speculate that the latter were evidence of occupation before the construction of the inner defences, which, in accordance with their model of settlement evolution, therefore probably masked an earlier palisaded enclosure. There is no evidence of such an enclosure here, and the premise of there being two chronologically distinct types of round-house here is flawed. More recent work has observed that one of the four ring-banks contains an internal ring-ditch, while one of the platforms is also a ring-ditch house, but probably with a timber wall, and there is also another ring-ditch house within the interior.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -348994 Y: 7483778 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.1350684171570697 Latitude: 55.62324804108708 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Peeblesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Traquair
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Formerly planted with trees in the 19th century and now reverted to rough pasture
| 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: 350.0m
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: | Planted with trees in the 19th century |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1983, 1986, 1992 and 2010
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1856): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Peebles 1859, sheet 13.15) |
| Other (1864): | Listed by William Chambers (1864, 29) |
| Earthwork Survey (1886): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison, who recognised the internal round-houses (1887, 51, fig 37) |
| Earthwork Survey (1959): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1967, 107-8, no.270, fig 85; RCAHMS PBD 96/1-2) |
| Other (1971): | Scheduled |
| Other (1971): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1985): | Visited by RCAHMS |
Traces of at least seven round-houses, four defined by stony ring-banks, one of which contains an internal ring-ditch, and two by ring-ditches, while the seventh is simply a shallow platform
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Ring-ditch houses. Traces of at least seven round-houses, four defined by stony ring-banks, one of which contains an internal ring-ditch, one by a shallow platform, and two by ring-ditches.
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| 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: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North west): | Gap in the outer wall, and a thinning of the rubble of the inner |
Twin ramparts, in places with a medial ditch, and an outer rampart and ditch on the most vulnerable flank
| Area 1: | 0.3ha. |
| Total: | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | Interpreted by RCAHMS investigators in 1959 as a bivallate settlement overlying an earlier, unfinished bivallate fort |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 | ✗ |
The southern arc of defences has been identified as the remains of an unfinished fort by RCAHMS investigators in 1959
| 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 |
| ✓ | On the S side |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
Chambers, W (1864) A History of Peeblesshire. William and Robert Chambers: Edinburgh and London
Christison, D (1887) 'The prehistoric forts of Peeblesshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 21 (1886-7), 13-82
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:
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