LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 59927 (None)
NMR: NT 86 SW 3 (59927)
SM: 375
NGR: NT 8072 6051
X: 380720 Y: 660510 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated across a gentle slope dropping into the shoulder of a slight spur on the leading edge of Bunkle Edge above Marygold. The fort, which is almost certainly one of those depicted in 1771 on Andrew and Mostyn Armstrong's Map of the County of Berwick (1771), appears on the later map of The County of Berwick by T Sharp, Christopher Greenwood, and William Fowler of The County of Berwick (1826), but shortly after was planted with trees, thus escaping the attention of the OS surveyors who in 1857 annotated the large outlying enclosure on the NW as a camp. The latter, which was bulldozed in the early 1980s had a rock-cut ditch up to 3m deep (Strong 1988) and is one of a number of ditched enclosures found around forts in Berwickshire and East Lothian, though none has been dated and their relationships to the forts found within them are unknown. This is no less true at Marygoldhill Plantation, where the rectilinear enclosure measured 515m in length from NE to SW, with angles on the N and W, and enclosed at least 6ha upslope from the fort. Now cleared of trees, the fort itself is oval on plan, measuring about 98m from NE to SW by 78m transversely (0.6ha) within twin ramparts with a medial ditch; the inner rampart stands between 1m and 2m above the level of the interior and up to 3m above the bottom of the broad ditch. There is a probable entrance on the WNW, where the E terminal turns slighlty inside the line of the W terminal, and probably a second on the opposite side of the interior on the ESE, though this sector has been mutilated by subsequent occupation and there are two gaps in the circuit here; another gap on the NNW is almost certainly relatively recent. The remains of the later occupation have two elements, namely a cluster of five stone-founded round-houses identified by James Hewat Craw on the ESE side of the interior, and an external rectilinear annexe on the NE, apparently springing from the counterscarp rampart adjacent to the western of the two gaps on this side, and returning on the NNW; though Francis Lynn's plan suggests it may have crossed in front of the entrance on the NW to mount the W terminal of the inner rampart. The interior of this annexe measures up to 90m across from NNW to SSE (0.3ha); it is subdivided by several banks and may also have contained several stone-founded round-houses
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -257082 Y: 7526128 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.3094025553657485 Latitude: 55.83746644500083 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Berwickshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Bunkle And Preston
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Planted with trees in the early 19th century, it is now cleared but under deep bracken
| 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: 236.0m
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: | Probably overlain by a late Iron Age settlement and planted with trees in the early 19th century |
The fort itself was omitted from the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1862, sheet 10.8), presumably because it was hidden in dense trees, but the outlying earthworks, from which a pitted boundary sprung, are shown on the moor to the NW Photographed by John Dewar in 1971 (held by RCAHMS) and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1981, 2000 and 2008, although it is only recently that it has been entirely cleared of trees
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1771): | Concentric ring on a hill symbol on Andrew and Mostyn Armstrong's Map of the County of Berwick (1771) and almost certainly one of the two shown here |
| Other (1857): | Outer earthwork annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1862, sheet 10.8) |
| Earthwork Survey (1895): | Plan and description by Francis Lynn (1895) |
| Other (1898): | Annotated Fort on the 2nd edition OS 25-inch map (Berwickshire 1899, sheet 10.8) |
| Other (1908): | Description (RCAHMS 1909, 4, no.17) |
| Earthwork Survey (1912): | Plan by James Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 7-8, no.18, fig 5; RCAHMS BWD 18/1; BWD 18/1/6 & DP225493) |
| Other (1939): | Scheduled |
| Other (1950): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands; nine sherds of coarse pottery found (Feachem 1963, 112) |
| Other (1954): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1966): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Description by RCAHMS and survey of the outlying earthworks to the NW |
| Other (2009): | Re-Scheduled |
Probably contains several stone-founded round-houses, though they are heavily obscured by bracken, as are several ther banks within the interior.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Identified by James Hewat Craw about 1912, but now obscured by dense bracken
| 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 | ✗ |
Nine sherds of coarse pottery recovered by RCAHMS investigators in 1950
| 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
| 4: | One of the gaps on the ESE is probably caused by the later occupation, and a gap on the NNW is the result of more recent traffic |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | Obscured by the later occupation |
| 2. Oblique (North west): | Slight stagger of the rampart terminals suggesting oblique approach to expose the visitor's left side |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch
| Area 1: | 0.6ha. |
| Total: | 0.6ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | A rectilinear annexe of 0.3ha appears to be an addition on the NE side of the fort and is as likely to be associated with the later settlement as the fort itself |
Feachem, R W (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Lynn, F (1897) 'Bunkle Edge forts'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 15 (1894-5), 365-76
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
Strong, P (1988) 'Pit alignment and earthworks between Marygoldhill Plantation and Drakemire, Berwickshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 118 (1988), 111-29
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