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HER:  East Lothian Council MEL1041 (None)
NMR:  NT 57 SE 49 (56442)
SM:  6044
NGR:  NT 5671 7061
X:  356713  Y:  670616  (OSGB36)
This fort or fortified settlement is situated on the N shoulder of a low rounded hill, exploiting the steeper slopes that fall away to Chesters on the N and NW. Oval on plan, it is known only from the placename and cropmarks on aerial photographs, some of which reveal traces of the scar of an internal rampart some 5m thick immediately within a ditch up to 4m in breadth. The interior measures about 70m from E to W by 50m transversely (0.27ha), and there are broad entrances on both the ESE and the W. Indeed at about 13m, these entrances are so wide that it suggest that the rampart may have returned around the terminals of the ditches, though no evidence of an outer rampart has yet been recorded.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -299930  Y:  7543838  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.6943147077180565  Latitude:  55.926701769061424  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  East Lothian
Historic County:  East Lothian
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Garvald And Bara
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:  156.0m
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:   | Ploughed flat |
Photographed by John Dewar in 1975 and 1976 (held by RCAHMS), and RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1976, 1978, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2005
1st Identified Written Reference (1975):   | Photographed by John Dewar |
Other (1994):   | Scheduled |
Some images show what appear to be faint traces of a slightly eccentric enclosure within the interior, previously interpreted as a palisade trench, but this may be part of the definition of the interior represented by the scar of the rampart visible on other photographs
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   | ✗ |
Possible traces of what is either an internal enclosure or the extent of the interior within the rampart
APs Not Checked   | ✗ |
None   | ✗ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Postholes   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Other   | ✓ |
See main summary
2:   | The perimeter is ploughed flat |
2:   | None |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
1. Passage-way/Corridor (East):   | Broad gap possibly indicating that inner and outer ramparts have united around the terminals of the ditch |
1. Simple Gap (East):   | None |
2. Passage-way/Corridor (West):   | Broad gap possibly indicating that inner and outer ramparts have united around the terminals of the ditch |
2. Simple Gap (West):   | None |
One ditch with at least an inner rampart and possibly originally an outer too
Area 1:   | 0.27ha. |
Total:   | 0.27ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
SW Quadrant:   | 1 |
NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Total:   | 1 |
Partial Univallate   | ✗ |
Univallate   | ✓ |
Partial Bivallate   | ✗ |
Bivallate   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate   | ✗ |
Multivallate   | ✗ |
Unknown   | ✗ |
Partial Univallate   | ✗ |
Univallate   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate   | ✗ |
Bivallate   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate   | ✗ |
Multivallate   | ✗ |
Scar of the inner rampart visible on aerial photographs
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 |
No related records
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