SC3946: Bowerhouse   | (Nether Bowerhouse) |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER:  Scottish Borders 54584
NMR:  NT 45 SE 17 (54584)
SM:  365
NGR:  NT 4905 5099
X:  349050  Y:  650990  (EPSG:27700)
Boundary:  ✗
This fort is situated on the leading edge of a slight terrace on the NE flank of Collie Law above Bowerhouse and was formerly incorporated into a small walled enclosure and planted with trees. Oval on plan it measures about 75m from NE to SW by 45m transversely (0.28ha) within twin ramparts and a substantial medial ditch. About 1894 David Christison (1895, 136) observed traces of drystone facing to the inner rampart where it had been broken through by a quarry, probably on the S. Another larger quarry has been dug into the E quadrant of the rocky interior, which is otherwise featureless. The entrance is on the NE.
Citizen Science:   | ✗   |
Reliability of Data:   | Confirmed |
Reliability of Interpretation:   | Confirmed |
X:  -313169  Y:  7508734  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.813249  Latitude:  55.749626  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders
Historic County:   Berwickshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Channelkirk
Extant:   | ✓ |
Cropmark:   | ✗ |
Likely Destroyed:   | ✗ |
Previously under trees in a small plantation
Woodland:   | ✗ |
Commercial Forestry Plantation:   | ✗ |
Parkland:   | ✗ |
Pasture (Grazing):   | ✓ |
Arable:   | ✗ |
Scrub/Bracken:   | ✗ |
Bare Outcrop:   | ✗ |
Heather/Moorland:   | ✗ |
Heath:   | ✗ |
Built-up:   | ✗ |
Coastal Grassland:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
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:  ✗
North:   | ✗ |
Northeast:   | ✗ |
East:   | ✓ |
Southeast:   | ✗ |
South:   | ✗ |
Southwest:   | ✗ |
West:   | ✗ |
Northwest:   | ✗ |
Level:   | ✗ |
Altitude:  312.0m
Boundary Type:   | ✗ |
Second HER:  ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  ✗
Second Historic County:  ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  ✗
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:   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC:   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50:   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400:   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800:   | ✗ |
Post AD800:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort Activity:   | ✗   |
Post Hillfort Activity:   | ✓   | Quarried and Incorporated into a small plantation in the 19th century |
None:   | No details. |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1976, 1980, 1983, 1986 and 1989. Infra-Red Linescan images were also recorded by the RAF in 1994
1st Identified Map Depiction (1853):   | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1854, sheet 13.15) |
Other (1894):   | Description by David Christison (1895, 135-6) |
Other (1900):   | Description by Archibald Allan (1900, 656-7) |
Other (1908):   | Description (RCAHMS, 1909, 7, no.28) |
Earthwork Survey (1912):   | Plan by Jame Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 13-15, no.29, fig 11; RCAHMS BWD 18/1; BWD 18/1/11) |
Other (1936):   | Scheduled |
Other (1952):   | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
Other (1975):   | Visited by the OS, though the surveyor erroneously found no remains of it |
Featureless
None:   | ✓ |
Spring:   | ✗ |
Stream:   | ✗ |
Pool:   | ✗ |
Flush:   | ✗ |
Well:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
In old plantation
No Known Features:   | ✓ |
Round Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Curvilinear Platforms:   | ✗ |
Other Roundhouse Evidence:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
No Known Geophysics:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
No Known Finds:   | ✓ |
Pottery:   | ✗ |
Metal:   | ✗ |
Metalworking:   | ✗ |
Human Bones:   | ✗ |
Animal Bones:   | ✗ |
Lithics:   | ✗ |
Environmental:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
APs Not Checked:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✓ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
See main summary
Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:   | 2:   | Quarry cuts through on the S |
Number of Possible Original Entrances:   |   |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:   | ✗   |
Entrance 1 (Northeast):   | Simple Gap |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch
Enclosed Area 1:   | 0.28ha. |
Enclosed Area 2:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 3:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 4:   | ✗ |
Total Enclosed Area:   | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.58ha.
Multi-period Enclosure System:   | ✗   |
Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:   | ✓   | Both ramparts probably formed complete circuits |
Number of Ramparts:   | 2 |
Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:   | 2 |
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:   | 2 |
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:   | 2 |
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Partial Univallate:   | ✓ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✓ |
Bivallate: | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✗ |
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
David Christison observed traces of facing on the inner rampart where it was cut by a quarry, probably on the S
None:   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✓ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Rubble:   | ✗ |
Wall-walk:   | ✗ |
Evidence of Timber:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
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:   | ✗  |
Ditches:  ✓
Number of Ditches:   | 1 |
Annex:   | ✗   |
Allan, A (1900) History of Channelkirk. James Thin: Edinburgh
Christison, D (1895) 'The forts of Selkirk, the Gala Water, the Southern slopes of the Lammermoors, and the north of Roxburgh'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 29 (1894-50), 108-79
RCAHMS (1909) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. First report and Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Berwick. HMSO: Edinburgh.
RCAHMS (1915) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Sixth report and Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Berwick (Revised Issue). HMSO: Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts:  https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C3946
Wikidata:  http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31106871
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.