Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC4046: The Chesters, Fogo  

(Chesters, Marchmont)

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

HER:  Scottish Borders 58517

NMR:  NT 74 NW 7 (58517)

SM:  4452

NGR:  NT 7401 4749

X:  374010  Y:  647490  (EPSG:27700)

Boundary:  

Summary

This small fortification is situated on a spur projecting WNW immediately to the rear of the recently restored house in the old steading at Chesters. Roughly circular on plan, its defences are relatively massive, comprising two ploughed-down ramparts with a medial ditch forming a belt some 30m deep. On the E, where best preserved, the inner rampart is spread some 15m thick and stands 1.2m high internally and 1.5m above the bottom of the ditch, which is up to 13m in breadth, while the outer rampart is 10m thick and though it rises 2m above the bottom of the ditch, externally it is no more than 0.4m high. James Hewat Craw also depicts an outer ditch on the SE, but aerial photographs show that only the faintest of traces of such a feature can now be detected here. The featureless interior measures about 50m in diameter and though the entrance is not visible it may have lain in the most heavily damaged sector on the SW. The relatively massive scale of the defences has led to the suggestion that this may be an undocumented medieval ringwork.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed:  The massive scale of the defences has led to the suggestion that this may be an undocumented medieval ringwork

Location

X:  -268869  Y:  7502909  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -2.415291  Latitude:  55.720166  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders

Historic County:   Berwickshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Fogo

Condition

Extant:  
Cropmark:  
Likely Destroyed:  

Land Use

Usually under grass but has evidently been loughed

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:  159.0m

Boundary

Boundary Type:  

Second HER:  

Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  

Second Historic County:  

Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  

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

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

Pre Hillfort Activity:  ✗  

Post Hillfort Activity:  ✓  Ploughed over

None:  No details.

Investigations

Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme 1988 and 1992

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 (1834):  Noted as a Roman camp (NSA, ii, Berwickshire, 225-6)
Other (1858):  Annotated Camp in Roman type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1862, sheet 22.5)
Other (1894):  Description by David Christison, but dependent on a MR p Loney, the land-steward (Christison 1895, 150-1)
Other (1908):  Description (RCAHMS 1909, 30, no.150)
Earthwork Survey (1912):  Plan by James Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 86-7, no.159, fig 82; RCAHMS BWD 13/1)
Other (1970):  Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Other (1979):  Description by RCAHMS
Other (1988):  Scheduled

Interior Features

Featureless having been ploughed

Water Source

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

Surface

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

Excavation

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

Geophysics

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

Finds

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

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

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

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  0:  The whole circuit has been reduced by ploughing

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  0:  Likely to have been in the SW arc

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗  

Enclosing Works

Twin ramparts with a medial ditch

Enclosed Area 1:  0.22ha.
Enclosed Area 2:  
Enclosed Area 3:  
Enclosed Area 4:  
Total Enclosed Area:  0.2ha.

Total Footprint Area:  1.1ha.

Multi-period Enclosure System:  ✗  

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:  ✓  

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:  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:  1:  Possibly an outer ditch, but little trace of this now survives

Annex

Annex:  ✗  

References

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

NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy.

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

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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