Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 55943 (None)
NMR: NT 54 SE 6 (55943)
SM: None
NGR: NT 5924 4014
X: 359240 Y: 640140 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the E end of a low ridge and is the eastern of two no more than 250m apart that stood to the ENE of Grizzelfield (see Atlas No.4006). First noted on the Map of the County of Berwick surveyed by Andrew and Mostyn Armstrong in 1771, it was ploughed down in the first half of the 19th century, but cropmarks have revealed that the defences comprise two circuits of ditches, and the remains of the rampart accompanying the outer was still visible when James Hewat Craw drew up a plan in 1911 (RCAHMS 1915, 76, no.134, fig 74). The interior is oval, measuring about 130m from E to W by 90m transversely (0.9ha) within the inner ditch, and allowing for the presence of an internal rampart it would have enclosed about 0.78ha. At 6m in average breadth, however, the outer ditch is rather broader than the inner, and while they are roughly concentric, generally lying some 5m to 10m apart, there is no particular reason to assume that they represent a contemporary scheme of defence. Indeed, as at nearby West Morriston (Atlas No.4004), where likewise traces of the outer rampart survived into the early 20th century but without any hint of the inner circuit, the outer may well represent a larger free-standing enclosure in its own right, measuring up to 170m from E to W by 100m transversely (1.3ha). If this is the case, the dogleg outwards on the E, which sharply increases the gap between the two circuits to 20m at this end, was a simple device to increase the size of the interior. Alternatively it was to elaborate the entrance here, complicating the approach to the two causeways that cross the inner ditch some 20m apart; the southern of these causeways, and the one more directly opposed to the gap in the outer ditch, appears to have been narrowed with palisade trenches springing from the terminals of the ditch to either side. No such elaboration occurs at the W entrance, where there is a very slight stagger in the terminals of the outer ditch and apparently a gap 20m wide in the inner, but at the third entrance, on the S, not only are the outer ditch terminals slightly staggered, but a dark mark extending across both lines of defence suggests the presence of a worn entrance way approaching obliquely to expose the visitor's right side. Within the interior three or four maculae are visible in the SE quarter, one of which is clearly the remains of a timber round-house. The only other features are a right-angled length of ditch which appears to have formed an enclosure with the inner ditch on the N side, and another arc of ditch lying adjacent immediately to the E; their relationship to the inner ditch is uncertain.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -294919 Y: 7489667 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.649305807980044 Latitude: 55.65310863583201 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Berwickshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Earlston
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: 165.0m
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 down and scored with successive systems of drains |
Photographed by CUCAP in 1967, and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2010
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1771): | Concentric ring symbol on Andrew and Mostyn Armstrong's Map of the County of Berwick (1771) |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1883): | Noted by James Tait (1884, 309) |
| Earthwork Survey (1911): | Plan by James Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 76, no.134, fig 74; RCAHMS BWD 17/1) |
| Other (1955): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1962): | Visited by the OS |
An angle of ditch and an arc of ditch, suggesting that later enclosures or yards have been built within the inner ditch, while of three or four maculae one is clearly the remains of a timber round-house
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 | ✗ |
Three or four maculae, one of which is clearly the remains of a timber round-house, while a right-angle of ditch springing from the inner ditch is presumably the remains of an inserted enclosure, and an adjacent arc of ditch is probably the remains of another
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
See main summary
| 3: | The whole circuit is ploughed flat |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | Through both ditches |
| 2. Oblique (South): | Staggered gaps, and staggered terminals in the outer ditch. Oblique approach exposing right side |
| 3. Simple Gap (West): | The terminals of the outer ditch are very slightly staggered |
Two ditches, but probably representing separate periods of construction
| Area 1: | 0.78ha. |
| Area 2: | 1.3haf. |
| Total: | 1.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | But quite probably representing two separate univallate forts |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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: 2
| ✗ | None |
Tait, J (1884) 'On the Black Dyke and some British camps in the west of Berwickshire'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 10 (1882-4), 307-12
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:
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