LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG7169 (None)
NMR: NY 18 SW 12 (66817)
SM: 2385
NGR: NY 1264 8160
X: 312640 Y: 581590 (OSGB36)
Situated on the crest of a low rounded hill immediately W of Lockerbie, this fort was thought to be a Roman fortlet until the character of its triple ditches was revealed by cropmarkings. None of the photographs shows the complete circuit of the defences, but on the N and E they are evidently concentric, the innermost measuring about 4m in breadth, the middle ditch about 3m, and the outer 2m. The OS 25-inch map surveyed in 1857 (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 51.1) shows this ditch-system in some detail, but on the SE the innermost ditch appears to cut across the line of the inner rampart and only two ditches are shown continuing around the S quarter. The cropmarks are too diffuse to clarify this arrangement, which may indicate some complexity in the sequence of their construction. Nevertheless, the interior measures about 65m from N to S by 50m transversely (0.25ha), and the entrance is probably on the W, though there are no clearly defined ditch terminals visible on the aerial photographs. Nor are there any clearly defined features within the interior. Trial excavations by J K St Joseph recorded a probable palisade trench beneath the remains of the inner rampart (St Joseph 1952).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -375298 Y: 7385384 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.371363102055047 Latitude: 55.12099356703812 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Dumfriesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Dryfesdale
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: 75.0m
N/A
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: | Ploughed down |
First depicted on Roy's Map (1747-55), it was depicted in his Military Antiquities in 1769 as a square Roman fortlet (R0y 1793, pl vii). A more detailed survey in 1857 appears on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 51.1). It had already been ploughed-down by 1890, and David Christison could only describe the OS depiction (Christison 1891, 251-2), and was merely listed as a site by Alexander Curle in the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire (RCAHMS 1920, 48, no.124). Attribution as a Roman fortlet from Roy's depiction led to trial excavations by J K St Joseph prior to 1952 (St Joseph 1952, 98-101), but by 1976, having photographed it from the air, St Joseph realised that it was a prehistoric fort, as is shown clearly by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme photographs taken in 1983, 1989, 1997 and 1997. It was Scheduled in 2007.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1755): | Wiliam Roy (1747-55) |
| Earthwork Survey (1769): | William Roy (1793, pl vii) |
| Other (1857): | Annotated Camp in Roman type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 51.1) |
| Other (1890): | Description (Christison 1891, 251-2) |
| Other (1913): | Listed (RCAHMS 1920, 48, no.124) |
| Excavation (1952): | Trial trenches (St Joseph 1952) |
| Other (1966): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (2007): | 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: | Ploughed flat |
| 2: | No clearly defined entrance in the cropmarks, though Roy shows opposed entrances on the E and W respectively, and the 1st edition OS map shows only a break on the W. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (West): | None |
Triple ditches, presumably accompanied by upcast ramparts
| Area 1: | 0.25ha. |
| Total: | 0.25ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.79ha.
None
| ✓ | Earlier palisade found in excavation |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| 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 | ✗ |
St Joseph may have located a palisade trench underneath a turf rampart
| 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: 3
| ✗ | None |
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
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
Roy, W (1793) The military antiquities of the Romans in Britain, London
St Joseph, J K (1952) 'Forts. From the Esk to Dalmakethar', in Miller, S N 1952 The Roman occupation of south-western Scotland. Maclehose: Glasgow
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