LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG7224 (None)
NMR: NY 18 SW 6 (66869)
SM: 655
NGR: NY 1135 8387
X: 311352 Y: 583874 (OSGB36)
The remains of this fort back onto the escarpment NE Dryfeholm Farm, partly lying in a plantation of mixed woodland and partly in fields. Oval on plan, the interior measures about 95m from NW to SE by 60m transversely (0.44ha), though the defences on the NE have been levelled by cultivation. Where better preserved on the NW, they comprise two ramparts and ditches, the outer with a counterscarp bank, and while the two ditches have been photographed as cropmarks on the NE, in the woodland to the SE only the two inner ramparts and the inner ditch were visible in 1962, though Alexander Curle observed traces of the outer ditch in 1912 (RCAHMS 1920, 47, no.115). In the sector reduced to cropmarks, the inner ditch is some 4m in breadth, and the outer, lying about 8m beyond it, 2m. The true scale of the defences can be seen on the NW, however, where the innermost rampart measures 6m in thickness and stands up to 2m in height. The entrance was probably in the SW sector, where there is no evidence that the defences were carried along the edge of the escarpment; there are no records of any other breaks in the ramparts elsewhere.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -377625 Y: 7389335 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.3922666256286576 Latitude: 55.14128295309089 (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: 60.0m
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: | Part planted with trees and partly ploughed down |
Mentioned in 1793 (Stat Acct 9, 1793, 425-6), it was first depicted in 1857 on the OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1861, sheet 42.16), at which time the SE end lay within a conifer plantation but the NE flank was still intact. By 1898 the plantation had been extended northwards to include the NW end and the NE sector of the defences had been demolished (Dumfriesshire 1899, sheet 42.16). This was how Alexander Curle found the site in 1912 during the preparation of the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire (RCAHMS 1920, 47, no.115). It was re-surveyed by the OS at 1:2500 in 1966, and photographed from the air by Cucap in 1948, and latterly by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1984 and 1986. It was Scheduled in 1937 and re-Scheduled in 2007.
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1793): | Noted (Stat Acct 9, 1793, 425-6) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1857): | Annotated Camp in Roman type on the OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1861, sheet 42.16) |
| Other (1912): | Description (RCAHMS 1920, 47, no.115) |
| Other (1977): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (2007): | Re-Scheduled |
| Other (1937): | 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 | ✗ |
None known
| 0: | Partly demolished on the NE |
| 2: | No entrances noted, but probably in the SW sector |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Two ramparts and ditches, the outer accompanied by a counterscarp bank, around at least three sides
| Area 1: | 0.44ha. |
| Total: | 0.44ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.0ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
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
Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
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