Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 59770 (None)
NMR: NT 86 NE 12 (59770)
SM: 367
NGR: NT 8988 6868
X: 389880 Y: 668680 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on a rocky hillock overlooking the E tip of Coldingham Loch. The defences comprise two elements, namely an inner wall, which forms a complete circuit, and an outer pair of ramparts with a medial ditch backing onto the rugged NW flank of the hillock, and though the sequence cannot be demonstrated stratigraphically, it is likely that the inner enclosure has been inserted into an earlier fort. The inner rampart of the latter follows the shoulder of the hillock, forming a scarp that falls away up to 2.5m into the bottom of the ditch, and encloses a D-shaped area measuring 65m from ENE to WSW parallel to the chord on the NW by about 50m transversely (0.28ha). On the W, where the counterscarp rampart is also best preserved, the NW end of the ditch has not been cut through the rock outcrops, but the entrance was more probably on the SE. Here the ramparts appear to return and unite around the terminals of the ditch, though this feature is possibly the result of later demolition to create access into the later settlement overlying the ramparts and there is another possible gap on the S. The wall of the inner enclosure, reduced to a bank of rubble between 3.1m and 6.5 m in thickness and up to 0.7m in height, encloses an area measuring 49m from ENE to WSW by 36m transversely (0.15ha),and it too was probably entered from the SE, though this side has been mutilated by an overlying settlement of stone-founded round-houses. Although no stratigraphic sequence can be observed between the inner enclosure and the ramparts of the fort, the inner wall is not only set well back from the shoulder of the hillock, but the space between it and the inner rampart of the outer defences varies from about 6m on the SW to 12m on the SE, features that strongly suggest they were not conceived as a single scheme. The later settlement comprises at least six stone-founded round-houses, the largest some 6.9m in diameter, which have mainly been inserted into the space between the inner enclosure and the outer ramparts and evidently overly both; a platform and four other scoops dug into the rubble of the ramparts on the SE are possibly other structures but may be no more than small quarry pits.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -240835 Y: 7540749 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.163455228583859 Latitude: 55.91115482818509 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Berwickshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Coldingham
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: 160.0m
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: | Overlain by a late Iron Age or Roman Iron Age settlement |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1982 and 2001
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1797): | Annotated 'Roman camp' on John Blackadder's map of Berwickshire (1797) |
| Other (1856): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1858, sheets 5.3 & 5.4) |
| Earthwork Survey (1894): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1895, 173-4, fig 30) |
| Other (1908): | Description (RCAHMS 1909, 16, no.90) |
| Earthwork Survey (1912): | Plan by James Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 48-9, no.84, fig 46; RCAHMS BWD 13/1 & DP148106) |
| Other (1932): | Scheduled |
| Other (1950): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 112) |
| Other (1966): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Description by RCAHMS |
| Earthwork Survey (1984): | Plan by Piers Dixon and Borders Architects Group (RCAHMS DC35 P) |
| Other (2009): | Re-Scheduled |
Probably occupied by a stone-walled settlement enclosure and overlain by an unenclosed settlement of at least six stone-founded round-houses; a circular platform an four other shallow scoops on the SE are either further structures or small quarries dug into the ramparts
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
At least six stone-founded round-houses and a platform
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (South east): | Ramparts probably return and unite around the terminals of the ditch |
The initial fort probably comprises twin ramparts with a medial ditch forming a D-shaped enclosure backing onto a crag, but a walled enclosure has also been inserted slightly eccentrically into its interior, and may well be a defensive structure
| Area 1: | 0.15ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.28ha. |
| Total: | 0.28ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | The inner enclosure is likely to be an insertion into an earlier fort |
| ✓ | Probably representing two phases |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
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
Feachem, R W (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
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:
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