LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG6736 (None)
NMR: NY 09 NE 2 (66355)
SM: 10544
NGR: NY 0613 9749
X: 306130 Y: 597490 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the western of the flat-topped summits of Park Hill, and stands within what is either an annexe or an earlier enclosure. The fort is kidney-shaped on plan, and measures about 75m from NE to SW by up to 61m transversely (0.4ha) within a stony rampart up to 4m in thickness and 0.7m in height. Additional protection is provided on the S and SW by an external ditch 2.4m broad and 0.6m deep and a low conterscarp bank. Original entrances can be seen on the NW and SSE, the former exploiting a natural gully in the topography which forms a deep re-entrant in this side, while a gap in the rampart on the ENE is of more recent date. There are traces of modern cultivation within the interior, but at least two round-house platforms and two ring-ditch houses are still visible in the NE half. The outer enclosure or annexe takes in an area of about 0.9ha, and where best preserved to either side of an entrance on the SSW is bounded by a low bank some 3m in thickness by 0.4m in height and an external ditch 2.5m broad and 0.3m deep; elsewhere this has been reduced to little more than a low scarp or a scatter of stones. The enclosure does not appear to be defensive as such, and the line of its perimeter tends to lie midslope or on the SE at the bottom of the bottom of a wet hollow. The footings of a small rectangular building overlie the bank to the E of the entrance
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -387246 Y: 7413006 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.478687462010899 Latitude: 55.26263316682892 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Dumfriesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kirkpatrick-Juxta
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: 260.0m
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: | Outer enclosure or annexe may be of earlier date |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
First depicted in 1857 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1861, sheet 24.10), the fort was visited by Alexander Curle during the preparation of the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire, though he did not recognise the outer enclosure (RCAHMS 1920, 142, no.407). It was re-surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS in 1972 and revisited in 1978. A new survey at 1:500 was drawn up by RCAHMS in 1991 (RCAHMS 1997, 65-6, fig 59), and it was photographed from the air in 1986 and 1991. It was Scheduled in 2003.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1857): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1861, sheet 24.10) |
| Other (1912): | Description (RCAHMS 1920, 142, no.407) |
| Other (1972): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1978): | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1991): | 1:500 (RCAHMS 1997, 65-6, fig 59; RCAHMS DC 32608; SC381870 ) |
| Other (2003): | Scheduled |
Two house-platforms and two ring-ditch houses
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Ring-ditch houses
| 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
| 3: | A gap on the ENE is relatively recent |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | None |
| 2. In-turned (North west): | None |
Single rampart with external ditch and counterscarp bank on the S and SW. An outer bank forms a larger, irregular enclosure of 0.9ha around the fort.
| Area 1: | 0.4ha. |
| Total: | 0.4ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.9ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | Around the S and SW |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✓ | The outer enclosure or possible annexe takes in an area of about 0.9ha, and where best preserved to either side of an entrance on the SSW is bounded by a low bank some 3m in thickness by 0.4m in height and an external ditch 2.5m broad and 0.3m deep; elsewhere this has been reduced to little more than a low scarp or a scatter of stones. The enclosure does not appear to be defensive as such, and the line of its perimeter tends to lie midslope or on the SE at the bottom of the bottom of a wet hollow. Its relationship to the fort is unknown. |
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 (1997) 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