Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC3902: White Castle  

Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community

HER:  East Lothian Council MEL1392

NMR:  NT 66 NW 1 (57479)

SM:  756

NGR:  NT 6135 6860

X:  361350  Y:  668600  (EPSG:27700)

Boundary:  

Summary

This fort, which is situated on a hillock in a cleft in the Lammermuir escarpment immediately NW of the minor road crossing from Garvald into the valley of the Whiteadder Water, commands extensive views out over the Lothian Plain to the NW. Oval on plan, its defences comprise two main elements, an inner oval enclosure with a single rampart and ditch, encircled by a slightly eccentric outer pair of ramparts with a medial ditch. The inner enclosure measures internally about 70m from NW to SE by 51m transversely (0.28ha), its rampart forming a low mound to either side of the entrance on the SW but elsewhere reduced to little more than a scarp dropping some 2.4m to traces of an external ditch; evaluation excavations 2010-13 showed that on the steep NE flank the crest-line of the rampart covered a row of timber posts. Entrances are visible on the SE, SW and NW, in each case corresponding to gaps in the outer defences, which enclose an area measuring 95m from NW to SE by 73m transversely (0.6ha). The most recent topographical survey during the recent evaluations has identified no fewer than eighteen platforms within the interior. On the strength of ten radiocarbon dates from a range of contexts, the excavators (Cook and Connolly 2013, 25-7) argue for three broad phases in which the eccentric and short-lived inner rampart was inserted into an earlier enclosure about 400 BC, but that the platforms represent ongoing occupation possibly as late as the beginning of the 2nd century BC; a single radiocarbon date from the outermost rampart falls in this last phase.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -291637  Y:  7540318  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -2.619822  Latitude:  55.908985  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  East Lothian

Historic County:   East Lothian

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Garvald And Bara

Condition

Extant:  
Cropmark:  
Likely Destroyed:  

Land Use

Woodland:  
Commercial Forestry Plantation:  
Parkland:  
Pasture (Grazing):  
Arable:  
Scrub/Bracken:  
Bare Outcrop:  
Heather/Moorland:  
Heath:  
Built-up:  
Coastal Grassland:  
Other:  

Landscape

Hillfort Type

Contour Fort:  
Partial Contour Fort:  
Promontory Fort:  
Hillslope Fort:  
Level Terrain Fort:  
Marsh Fort:  
Multiple Enclosure Fort:  

Topographic Position

Hilltop:  
Coastal Promontory:  
Inland Promontory:  
Valley Bottom:  
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop:  
Ridge:  
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp:  
Hillslope:  
Lowland:  
Spur:  

Dominant Topographic Feature:  

Aspect

North:  
Northeast:  
East:  
Southeast:  
South:  
Southwest:  
West:  
Northwest:  
Level:  

Elevation

Altitude:  318.0m

Boundary

Boundary Type:  

Second HER:  

Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  

Second Historic County:  

Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  

Dating Evidence

The excavators argue (Cook and Connolly 2013, 25-7) that the bulk of the activity occurs about 400 BC, with the construction of a short-lived inner rampart within a slightly earlier and large enclosure, and that the platforms visible within the interior represent ongoing settlement until the beginning of the 2nd century BC; the outermost rampart apparently belongs to this later phase.

Reliability:  C - Low

Pre 1200BC:  
1200BC - 800BC:  
800BC - 400BC:  
400BC - AD50:  
AD50 - AD400:  
AD400 - AD 800:  
Post AD800:  
Unknown:  

Pre Hillfort Activity:  ✗  

Post Hillfort Activity:  ✓  Occupation on one platform dates from about AD 1100, while a small square structure tucked into the back of the innermost rampart on the SW dates from the 15th - 17th centuries

C14:  Ten radiocarbon dates from a range of contexts

Investigations

Range of aerial photographs under various conditions by John Dewar (held by RCAHMS) and the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme

1st Identified Map Depiction (1799):  Annotated on William Forrest's Map of Haddingtonshire (1799)
Other (1853):  Annotated 'British Fort' on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Haddingtonshire 1855, sheet 16)
Other (1892):  Depicted on the OS 25-inch map (Haddingtonshire 1894, sheet 16.3)
Earthwork Survey (1913):  Plan and description (RCAHMS 1924, 35-6, no.52, fig 71)
Other (1923):  Scheduled
Other (1954):  Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 123)
Other (1961):  Re-Scheduled
Other (1968):  Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Excavation (2010):  Evaluation by Murray Cook and David Connolly (Cook et al 2010)
Excavation (2011):  Evaluation by Murray Cook and David Connolly (Cook and Connolly 2011; 2012)
Geophysical Survey (2012):  Carried out in the course of excavations by the Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society (Cook and Connolly 2013, 18, fig 5)
Excavation (2012):  Evaluation by Murray Cook and David Connolly (Cook and Connolly 2013)
Earthwork Survey (2013):  Contour plan generated in the course of the excavations (Cook and Connelly 2014, 3, fig 2)
Excavation (2013):  Evaluation by Murray Cook and David Connolly (Cook and Connolly 2014; Cook 2013)

Interior Features

Eighteen platforms have been from 3.5m to 9m in diameter have been identified within the interior, Evaluation on one suggests medieval occupation while a small rectangular structure tucked into the back of the innermost rampart dates from the 15th - 17th centuries; the site may have provided a convenient location from which to exploit the hill grazings.

Water Source

None:  
Spring:  
Stream:  
Pool:  
Flush:  
Well:  
Other:  

Surface

Eighteen platforms and one square structure of later date

No Known Features:  
Round Stone Structures:  
Rectangular Stone Structures:  
Curvilinear Platforms:  
Other Roundhouse Evidence:  
Pits:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  

Excavation

No more than evaluation trenches

No Known Excavation:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  
Nothing Found:  

Geophysics

No clearly resolved structures

No Known Geophysics:  
Pits:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  
Nothing Found:  

Finds

Small assemblage of coarse stone objects, including a small slab bearing faint incised lines, three sherds of coarse pottery, occasional pieces of flint, and possible fragments of quernstones

No Known Finds:  
Pottery:  
Metal:  
Metalworking:  
Human Bones:  
Animal Bones:  
Lithics:  
Environmental:  
Other:  

Aerial

APs Not Checked:  
None:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Other:  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  3:  Piercing all ramparts

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗  

Entrance 1 (Southeast):  Simple Gap
Entrance 2 (Southwest):  Simple Gap
Entrance 3 (Northwest):  Simple Gap

Enclosing Works

Three ramparts, representing at least two phases, in which the inner accompanied by an external ditch is inserted into an earlier enclosure with twin ramparts and a medial ditch

Enclosed Area 1:  0.28ha.
Enclosed Area 2:  0.6ha.
Enclosed Area 3:  
Enclosed Area 4:  
Total Enclosed Area:  0.6ha.

Total Footprint Area:  0.98ha.

Multi-period Enclosure System:  ✓  The eccentricity of the inner and outer circuits suggests they are of separate dates

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:  ✓  

Number of Ramparts:  3

Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:  3
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:  3
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:  3
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:  2

Current Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  
Unknown:  

Multi-period Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:  
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  

Surface Evidence

None:  
Earthen Bank:  
Stone Wall:  
Rubble:  
Wall-walk:  
Evidence of Timber:  
Vitrification:  
Other Burning:  
Palisade:  
Counter Scarp Bank:  
Berm:  
Unfinished:  
Other:  

Excavated Evidence

None:  
Earthen Bank:  
Stone Wall:  
Murus Duplex:  
Timber-framed:  
Timber-laced:  
Vitrification:  
Other Burning:  
Palisade:  
Counter Scarp Bank:  
Berm:  
Unfinished:  
No Known Excavation:  
Other:  

Gang Working

Gang Working:  ✗ 

Ditches

Ditches:  

Number of Ditches:  2:  There is possibly a third ditch on the S but it may equally be a combination of natural features and a trackway

Annex

Annex:  ✗  

References

Cook, M (2014) 'Garvald and Bara, White Castle Season 4, Excavation and survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 14 (2013), 69-70

Cook, M, and Connolly, D (2010) 'White Castle Season 1, East Lothian (Garvald and Bara parish), survey and excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 11 (2010), 59-60

Cook, M, and Connolly, D (2011) 'White Castle Season 2, East Lothian (Garvald and Bara parish), survey and excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 64

Cook, M, and Connolly, D (2012) Rampart Scotland Project 001: The Hillforts of East Lothian Season 2. White Castle, Garvald, East Lothian Data Structure Report and Post Excavation Assessment. Unpublished report http://www.rampartscotland.co.uk/index.php/publications/

Cook, M, and Connolly, D (2013) Rampart Scotland Project 001: The Hillforts of East Lothian Season 3. White Castle, Garvald, East Lothian, Data Structure Report. Unpublished report http://www.rampartscotland.co.uk/index.php/publications/

Cook, M, and Connolly, D (2014) Rampart Scotland Project 001: The Hillforts of East Lothian Season 4. White Castle, Garvald, East Lothian, Data Structure Report. Unpublished report http://www.rampartscotland.co.uk/index.php/publications/

Cook, M, Connolly, D and Kdolska, H (2010) Rampart Scotland Project 001: The Hillforts of East Lothian Season 3. White Castle, Garvald, East Lothian: Data Structure Report and Costed Post Excavation Research Design. Unpublished report http://www.rampartscotland.co.uk/index.php/publications/

Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. London: Batsford

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

Terms of Use

The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:

Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.

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