Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: East Lothian Council MEL1293 (None)
NMR: NT 58 SE 10 & 32 (56699 & 56674)
SM: 3863
NGR: NT 5564 8422
X: 355640 Y: 684220 (OSGB36)
The distinctive cone of North Berwick Law, which rises abruptly above the surrounding countryside from a height of about 65m to its summit at 187m OD, is the site of a large fort. Its defences are fragmentary, according to Richard Feachem, who drew up a plan for RCAHMS in 1954, comprising three ramparts: the first encircles the summit of the hill; the second takes in a lower terrace on the SW; and the third drops down on either flank to enclose the lower slopes on SW, including a broad terrace extending out to the lip of the disused Law Quarry. Feachem notes that the inner rampart encloses an area measuring about 150m from NE to SW by 90m transversely (1963, 119), though there is little trace of it along the rocky NW and SE flanks, and the last sight of the SW side on the SE would suggest a rather large transverse measurement in the order of 135m (1.7ha). The second rampart on the SW is more fragmentary, and while aerial photographs indicate a band of stony debris about 60m further down the slope from the inner, a survey carried out by Headland Archaeology in 2000-1 failed to identify any trace of a rampart here (Lowe and Dalland 2001; archived RCAHMS MS1039/72). The leading edge of the third rampart has been destroyed by the quarry along most of the SW side, but finds from exposures in the quarry revealed midden and other evidence of occupation leading, while on both the W and E the course of the rampart can be followed, forming a terrace climbing obliquely up the slope. The greater part of the interior is bare rock outcrop, but on the lower slopes within the compass of the third rampart, which encloses an overall area of about 9.4ha, a series of hut-circles and house platforms can be seen strung across natural terraces on the lower slopes on the S, while on the gentler slope below them at least two lynchets of a small field-system can also be distinguished. The only entrance visible in the lower rampart lies on the SE, giving access to the lower slopes on the S from the E; the entrances through the upper ramparts are probably marked by clefts in the outcrops taken by modern footpaths. The quarrying at the foot of the slope exposed midden in deposits up to 0.7m deep
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -302091 Y: 7568141 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.713733125684159 Latitude: 56.04882467710778 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: East Lothian
Historic County: East Lothian
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: North Berwick
The lower rampart on the S flank has been destroyed by quarrying
| 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: Highly prominent local feature, originating as an eroded volcanic plug, extending from 65m up to 187m OD
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 187.0m
N/A
The discovery of Late Bronze Age artefacts on the Law cannot be used to infer the date of any ramparts.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | A Late Bronze Age axe, and a sword |
| Post Hillfort: | A prominent location with a long history as a landmark and watch post, both in the Napoleonic wars, and more recently with built posts in WW1 and WW2; also the site of a whalebone arch, now dismantled |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1907): | Discovery of midden deposits and structures along the lower slopes on the S reported by James Richardson (1907, 424-8)) |
| Other (1913): | The round-houses and other structures on the lower slopes on the S are described by J G Callander (RCAHMS 1924, 72, no.110) |
| Earthwork Survey (1954): | Plan and description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS ELD 2/1-3; Feachem 1963, 119) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1968): | OS 6-inch map |
| Other (1975): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1976): | Scheduled |
| Other (2001): | Survey and evaluation (Lowe and Dalland 2001; RCAHMS MS1039/72; Lowe and Morrison 2001) |
| Other (2006): | Foundations of the whalebone arch were removed by hand |
| Other (2012): | Watching brief by CFA Archaeology for footpath works; nothing found (Garst 2012) |
A series of stone founded round-houses and platforms are strung across natural terraces on the lower slopes of the S flank, where there are also traces of two lynchets extending across the foot of the slope, and a later hedgerow also mounts the slope from the SSE
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
The RCAHMS plan drawn up in 1954 shows at least 25 stone founded round-houses and platforms, together with several other structure
| 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 | ✗ |
According to James Richardson (1907, 424-8) cuttings for the quarry at the foot of the SW side exposed midden deposits 0.7m deep, containing ox and deer bones, some of them sawn and worked, a horn handle, a bone pin, four two-pronged bone implements, pottery, two pieces of flint, and several coarse stone tools; digging nearby uncovered part of a structure and deposits 1.8m deep. More recent work by Headland Archaeology in 2001 recovered a copper alloy buckle from a post-medieval bank below the fort on the NE (Lowe and Morrison 2001). A Late Bronze Age axe was found on the terrace E of the quarry (Canmore 56698), while about 1887 a sword, now lost, was found on the upper slopes of the hill (Canmore 56698). A polished stone disc was donated to the NMAS in 1953 (Canmore 56696)
| 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
| 1: | The ramparts are only intermittently preserved around the perimeter |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | Through the outermost rampart providing access to the lower slopes on the S from the E |
Three ramparts forming large enclosures that traverse the contours
| Area 1: | 1.7ha. |
| Area 2: | 9.4ha. |
| Total: | 9.4ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | Recent fieldwork failed to confirm the existence of the second rampart |
| ✗ | No single circuit is complete |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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 | ✗ |
No more than watching briefs for remedial work on footpaths
| 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: None
| ✗ | There is no reason to regard the outermost enclosure as an annexe to the upper enclosure of the fort and it is considered here to have been a free-standing fort in its own right. |
Feachem, R W (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Garst, L (2012) North Berwick Law Improvements to Summit Path: Archaeological Monitored Strip. Unpublished report to East Lothian Council
Lowe, C and Dalland, M (2001) North Berwick Law, East Lothian: An Archaeological Survey. Unpublished report for North Berwick Community Council and East Lothian Council
Lowe, C and Morrison, J. (2001) 'North Berwick Law, North Berwick, East Lothian (North Berwick parish), desk-based assessment; survey'. Disc Exc Scot New Ser, 2 (2001), 36
RCAHMS (1924) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Eighth report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of East 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