LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 51528 (None)
NMR: NT 24 SW 12 (51528)
SM: 114
NGR: NT 2193 4283
X: 321930 Y: 642830 (OSGB36)
The fort crowning the summit of the White Meldon is the largest in the upper reaches of the Tweed valley, displaying up to four lines of enclosure, the inner two of which are incomplete circuits that hint at a complex sequence in which the fort has expanded in a series of stages, though the precise sequence is unknown. The third rampart, a tumbled wall about 3.5m in thickness, is the only continuous line of defence visible today, enclosing an area measuring 260m from N to S by 167m transversely (2.9ha), within which there are traces of the stances of at least twenty-nine timber round-houses, mainly represented by shallow ring-grooves and in a few cases enclosing well-defined platforms; aerial photography and fieldwork under a range of conditions suggests there are many more round-houses hidden in the tussocky clumps of grass that clothe large areas of the interior. There are several gaps in the line of this wall, but only those on the NNE and SSW are certainly entrances; at the former the terminals of the inner rampart are staggered to expose the visitor's right side, while the latter is set in the W re-entrant formed where the S end of the fort loops out round the S spur, again exposing the visitor's right side. The second rampart, not much more than a stony scarp lying immediately up slope from the third along the E flank, probably pursued much the same course elsewhere, but the projected course of the innermost, which is no more than a band of grass-grown rubble visible on the SSE, would have formed a considerably smaller enclosure. The only place where there is any clear stratigraphy in the defences, is on the S, where a short isolated length of rampart cuts across the salient in the line of the third rampart on the S spur. This is clearly part of an earlier circuit, but whether it belongs to the second rampart, as proposed by the RCAHMS investigators in 1962, or the outermost fourth circuit visible on the E side of the fort is unknown. And while the RCAHMS investigators opted for a simple expanding sequence as the most likely explanation, in which this outermost rampart represented the fort at its maximum extent (3.6ha), with its defences enhanced by a ditch at the S extremity and an outer rampart and ditch at the N extremity, it is equally possible it formed an earlier enclosure (3.4ha) eccentrically underlying the third circuit. This outermost rampart, which the investigators also considered possibly unfinished, has several gaps along its line, but only that on the NNE is certainly an entrance, and is approached externally by a shallow worn hollow. The summit of the hill is surmounted by an OS triangulation station, but the subsidiary summit to its W has provided the site for a large round cairn, while the gully between them has been tailored in the post-medieval period to create a sheepfold.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -360995 Y: 7493535 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.2428770130685396 Latitude: 55.67270523596646 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Peeblesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Peebles
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: 427.0m
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: | Bronze Age round-cairn occupies the subsidiary summit forming the W side of the gully on the W of the true summit |
| Post Hillfort: | Overlain by a fold set in the gully on the W side of the summit |
Photographed by CUCAP in 1962 and 1969, RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1980, 1991, 1996, 2010 and 2015, and I B M Ralston in 1986. The site has been regularly visited by S Halliday
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1856): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Peebles 1859, sheet 13.1) |
| Other (1864): | Listed by William Chambers (1864, 29) |
| Earthwork Survey (1886): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1887, 62, pl 1, fig 47 |
| Earthwork Survey (1962): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1967, 148-52, no.330, fig 143; RCAHMS PBD 151/1-5) |
| Other (1962): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1968): | Scheduled |
| Other (1974): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1976): | Visited by the Hill-fort Study Group |
The plan surveyed by RCAHMS shows the stances of no fewer than twenty-nine timber round-houses, mainly comprising ring-grooves, but in some cases enclosing shallow central platforms. Oblique aerial photography taken under a range of conditions suggests that there are many more hidden in the rough vegetation.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Ring-grooves, some encircling platforms
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 7: | The RCAHMS plan of 1962 shows several long and short gaps in the various circuits without elaborating their significance |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | in outermost rampart and approached by a shallow worn hollow |
| 1. Oblique (North east): | Staggered terminals in the inner rampart creating oblique approach exposing right side |
| 2. Other Forms (South west): | Set in a re-entrant and exposes the visitor's right side |
Up to four ramparts representing three or four separate periods of construction, possibly with an early univallate phase
| Area 1: | 2.9ha. |
| Area 2: | 3.6ha. |
| Total: | 3.6ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 3.9ha.
None
| ✓ | Clearly elements of sequence at the southern end of the fort, but the precise sequence of construction is not known |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 4 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 4 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✓ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
There is no particular reason to follow the RCAHMS investigator's suggestion that the outermost rampart on the N is unfinished
| 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 |
| ✓ | Short sectors of outer ramaprt with ditches at the N and S extremities |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | 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