LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Midlothian per East Lothian Council MEL8107 (None)
NMR: NT 26 SE 17 (51806)
SM: None
NGR: NT 2867 6440
X: 328670 Y: 664400 (OSGB36)
This small fortification occupies a promontory formed in a particularly extreme meander of the River North-esk, which has created a long spur low down within the gorge. While the SW flank of the spur is simply steep, the NE flank is precipitous, dropping some 20m to the river, and thus lending itself to fortification by the simple expedient of drawing twin ramparts with a medial ditch across the neck on the NW. The outer rampart is presently the more substantial, still standing 1.7m high externally, and though the inner is no more than 0.3m in height, it stands 1.8m above the bottom of the ditch, which is some 7.5m in breadth. There is a possible entrance towards the NE end of the defences, though this gap may be where a hollowed trackway that can be seen mounting the SE end of the promontory passed on up the spur. No trace of any defences can be seen at the SE end, where, apart from the trackway, a quarry has been excavated across the spine of the promontory. The interior, which is otherwise featureless, measures about 135m in length and ranges in breadth from 45m at the NW end to 22m in the central sector, before tapering to a point beyond the quarry on the SE (0.25ha).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -349697 Y: 7532087 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.1413833831616116 Latitude: 55.867515802131905 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Midlothian
Historic County: Midlothian
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Lasswade
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: 90.0m
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: | According to RCAHMS investigators in 1956, cultivated in the post-medieval period; a quarry dug across into the SE end |
Named as a topographical feature on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Edinburghshire 1854, sheet 13)
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1843): | Noted (NSA, 1, Edinburgshire, 351-2) |
| Other (1927): | Description (RCAHMS 1929, 117, no.148) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1954): | Visited by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1956): | Plan and description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS DC31571-2 & DP149858-9) |
| Other (1983): | Visited by RCAHMS |
| Geophysical Survey (2006): | Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society, sponsored by Esk Valley Trust (Hawkins 2006a & b) |
| Geophysical Survey (2007): | Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society, sponsored by Esk Valley Trust (Hawkins 2007) |
Featureless
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 | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Obscured by trees
| 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): | None |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch cutting off a promontory
| Area 1: | 0.25ha. |
| Total: | 0.25ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Hawkins, I (2006a) Geophysical Survey of Maiden Castle, Polton, Lasswade, Midlothian. Unpublished report
Hawkins, I (2006b) 'Maiden Castle, Midlothian (Lasswade parish), geophysical survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 7, 2006, 105-6, fig 30
Hawkins, I (2007) 'Maiden Castle, Midlothian (Lasswade parish), ground resistance survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 8 (2007), 129-30, fig
NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy.
RCAHMS (1929) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Midlothian and West Lothian. 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