Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC4008 Longcroft, Berwickshire

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Scottish Borders 56047 (None)

NMR:  NT 55 SW 3 (56047)

SM:  372

NGR:  NT 5325 5435

X:  353253  Y:  654358  (OSGB36)

Summary

This impressive forts crowns the southern tip of the spur above Longcroft and displays evidence of a complex sequence of construction and occupation. Oval on plan, at first sight the defences comprise no fewer than four ramparts with intermediate ditches, the innermost, which is heavily robbed and obscured by an overlying cluster of courts and yards, enclosing an area measuring 80m from NE to SW by 60m transversely (0.38ha). This enclosure, however, lies eccentrically within the second rampart, which itself overlies the third circuit around the SE and S sectors. Thus, while the first and second ramparts may be contemporary, it appears more likely that they are successive, and that the interior has contracted progressively from an initial defence of a rampart and ditch with intermittent traces of a counterscarp bank, which enclosed an area measuring 115m from NE to SW by 95m transversely (0.86ha); the second rampart, erected with an external ditch immediately within this line on the N and W, reduced the interior to 0.69ha, and the innermost to 0.38ha. There are entrances on the E and the SW, the former probably piercing all four circuits obliquely in such a way as to expose the visitor's right side. The character of the SW entrance is less clear, and access in the later stages would have been impeded by one of the overlying courts, but immediately to its E there is evidence of a shallow hollowed trackway mounting the slope, only to be overlain and blocked by the counterscarp rampart of the earliest identifiable circuit; while this track is thus of some antiquity, possibly indicating a yet earlier enclosure here, it does not necessarily follow that the rest of the deeply worn trackway descending the tip of the spur is quite so ancient, and the majority of the wear that has cut it so deeply into the slope may have been caused by more recent traffic accessing furlongs of medieval or post-medieval rig and outlying hill pastures. The stances of several stone-founded round-houses can be seen amongst the courts and yards sprawled across the interior.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -305781  Y:  7514805  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -2.7468753460959743  Latitude:  55.7803103321408  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders

Historic County:  Berwickshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Lauder

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant  
Cropmark  
Likely Destroyed  

Land Use

None

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

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

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North  
Northeast  
East  
Southeast  
South  
Southwest  
West  
Northwest  
Level  

Altitude:  350.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.

Reliability:  D - None

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

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   Overlain by a series of yards that probably belong to a late Iron Age settlement

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

Photographed under a variety of conditions by CUCAP in 1953 and 1969, by John Dent in 1991 and 1994, and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1976, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1998 and 2010. Visited by S Halliday on several occasions.

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1755):   On General William Roy's Military Map of Scotland (1747-55)
Other (1853):   Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1854, sheet 8.8)
Other (1883):   Description by James Tait (1884, 312)
Earthwork Survey (1894):   Drawn up by Francis Lynn with description (Gunn 1895, 33-5, Christison 1895, 129-31, fig 9)
Other (1894):   Also visited by David Christison (1895, 129-31)
Other (1897):   Annotated Fort on the 2nd edition OS 25-1nch map (Berwickshire 1898, sheet 13.8)
Other (1908):   Description (RCAHMS 1909, 37, no,185)
Earthwork Survey (1912):   Drawn up by James Hewat Craw, possibly as early as 1910 (RCAHMS 1915, 108-10, no.211, fig 100; RCAHMS BWD 18/1; BWD 18/1/5)
Other (1927):   Scheduled
Other (1952):   Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 113)
Other (1961):   Re-Scheduled
Other (1979):   Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS

Interior Features

Occupied by a series of courts and yards and several stone-founded round-houses, evidently representing an overlying settlement, probably of Late Iron Age date.

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

Stone-founded round-houses and a series of courts and yards

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

Excavation

None

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

Geophysics

None

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

Finds

None

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

Aerial

Stone-founded round-houses and a series of courts and yards

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked  
None  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roads/Tracks  
Other  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
3:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:
1. Oblique (East):   Staggered gaps. Oblique approach exposing right side
2. Simple Gap (South west):   Partly blocked by one of the later enclosures in the interior

Enclosing Works

Apparently multivallate, but representing a complex succession of defences that ends in the overlying settlement of courts and yards

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.38ha.
Area 2:   0.69ha.
Area 3:   0.86ha.
Total:   0.86ha.

Total Footprint Area:  1.3ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✓   The inner of the outer pair of ramparts with their medial ditch is overlain around the SE and S sectors of the circuit, essentially between the two entrances, by a rampart that lies eccentrically to the innermost rampart; both the latter are overlain by courts and yards of the late Iron Age settlement.

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

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

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  
Unknown  

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  

Surface Evidence

None

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

Excavated Evidence

None

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

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✓   None

Number of Ditches:  3

Annex:
✗   None

References

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

Gunn, G (1895) 'Report of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club for the year 1894 (revised by James Hardy)'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 15 (1894-5), 30-98

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

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



Terms of Use

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


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