LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG12162 (None)
NMR: NY 08 SE 2 (66277)
SM: 665
NGR: NY 0732 8368
X: 307325 Y: 583680 (OSGB36)
The defences of this fort which enclose a low, but commanding, hillock on the floor of Annandale NW of Lochmaben comprise two elements: a rampart with an external ditch forming a circular enclosure on the summit of the hillock; and an outer rampart with an external ditch around its foot. The inner enclosure measures about 60m in diameter within a thick rampart that stands up to 1.2m above the level of the interior and about 3.5m above the bottom of the external ditch, which has been reduced to little more than a terrace on the S but elsewhere is accompanied by a counterscarp bank. The entrance is on the ENE, opening down the slope onto what is probably a surfaced entrance way, which can be seen as a parchmark on aerial photographs extending down to the entrance through the outer defences. These latter comprise a ploughed-down rampart with an external ditch up to 5m in breadth, which describe an irregular area of about 1.5ha. In contrast to the ditches, the aerial photographs also show a pencil-thin parched line set back concentrically from the inner lip of the outer ditch around the NE quarter, accompanied by a second line on the lip of the ditch around the NW; at the entrance on the ENE the terminals of the parchmark turn in slightly to either side, suggesting that they represent a stone component in the structure of the rampart.
Citizen Science: ✓
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -384649 Y: 7388852 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.455357541244189 Latitude: 55.138802369767404 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Dumfriesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Lochmaben
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: 73.0m
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: | Cultivated within and over various sectors |
First depicted 1747-55 on General Roy's map, and also surveyed at a greater scale for his volume on Military Antiquities (1793), this fort is routinely shown on maps thereafter, appearing in detail on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1861, sheet 42.15). A sketch-plan prepared by David Christison about 1890 (1891, 251-2, fig 27), was subsequently redrawn to accompany Alexander Curle's description in 1912 for the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire (RCAHMS 1920, 157, no.450). Re-surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS in 1966, a geophysical survey was carried out about 1995 as part of fieldwork by RCAHMS in Eastern Dumfriesshire, but proved uninformative.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1755): | Roy's Map (1747-55) |
| Earthwork Survey (1793): | By William Roy in the late 18th century (1793, pl.viii) |
| Other (1857): | Annotated Camp in Roman type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1861, sheet 42.15) |
| Earthwork Survey (1890): | Sketch-plan and description (Christison 1891, 251-2, fig 27) |
| Other (1912): | Description (RCAHMS 1920, 157, no.450) |
| Other (1924): | Scheduled |
| Other (1966): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Geophysical Survey (1995): | On behalf of RCAHMS |
| Other (1999): | Re-Scheduled |
Featureless
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | Through both ramparts and with a metalled entrance way |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | None |
Single rampart and ditch around the summit, and irregular outer work around the foot of the slope.
| Area 1: | 0.33ha. |
| Area 2: | 1.5ha. |
| Total: | 1.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.9ha.
None
| ✗ | The outer work encloses about 1.5ha. |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | Possibly separate phases |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✓ | A broad ditch at the foot of the hillock encloses an irregular area of about 1.5ha. It is not clear whether this is an annexe to the central enclosure or whether it was once a freestanding fortification. Its entrance is on the E. |
Christison, D (1891) 'A general view of the forts, camps, and motes of Dumfriesshire, with a detailed description of those in Upper Annandale, and an introduction to the study of Scottish motes', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 25 (1890-91,) 198-256
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland, London (p 116)
OSA (1791-9) The statistical account of Scotland, drawn up from the communications of the ministers of the different parishes (Sinclair, J, ed) Edinburgh (vol. 9 (1793), 426)
RCAHMS (1920) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Seventh report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Dumfries. HMSO: Edinburgh
RCAHMS (1997a) Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape. 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