Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC0243 Court Knowe, High Auchenlarie, Kirkcudbrightshire

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

Scroll left/right to view further images.

HER:  Dumfries & Galloway MDG3329 (None)

NMR:  NX 55 SW 31 (63729)

SM:  None

NGR:  NX 5383 5308

X:  253830  Y:  553080  (OSGB36)

Summary

This small fort occupies a rocky hillock with steep slopes and cliffs bounding the W, N and SE. A substantial wall, reduced on the N and E as a stony bank up to 5m in thickness by 1.3m in height, but elsewhere with long runs of outer face standing from 0.4m in height on the W to 1m on the S, encloses the whole of the summit, an area measuring about 35m in diameter (0.1ha). An outer wall reduced to a stone faced scarp up to 0.7m high in four course can be seen on the S. The entrance, which is about 2.5m wide, is on the E. The interior is largely occupied by the remains of a later farmstead.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -476260  Y:  7333028  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.278313816440657  Latitude:  54.85113615184476  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Dumfries & Galloway

Historic County:  Kirkcudbrightshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Anwoth

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:  114.0m

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 post-medieval farmstead

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

The Court Knowe is shown as a hachured mound on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 49), which also depicts the rampart of the fort on the S, though neither are annotated as antiquities Name Book, Kirkcudbrightshire, No.145, 61). Subsequently surveyed at 1:2500 in 1972 by the OS and revisited in 1977, it was visited by RCAHMS in 1994

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1848):   Depicted but not annotated on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 49)
Other (1972):   Description and surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Other (1977):   Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS
Other (1994):   Description by RCAHMS

Interior Features

Occupied by later farmstead

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

Later farmstead

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

None

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:  
1:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (East):   None

Enclosing Works

Single continuous wall with outer wall on the S

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.1ha.
Total:   0.1ha.

Total Footprint Area:  0.27ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   1
SE Quadrant:   2
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   2

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:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

Name Book, Ordnance Survey Object Name Books (6 inch and 1/2500 scale); available https://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/



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


Document Version 1.1