LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
Scroll left/right to view further images.
HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG7250 (None)
NMR: NY 18 SW 9 (66895)
SM: 12002
NGR: NY 1168 8244
X: 311683 Y: 582441 (OSGB36)
Little is now visible of this fort, which occupies a hillock backing onto a steep escarpment on the N and W above the public road at Dryfesdalegate. Roughly oval on plan, it has been heavily ploughed down, but the inner rampart has probably been continuous, enclosing an area measuring about 60m from NW to SE by 45m transversely (0.23ha). Cropmarks have revealed no less than three ditches swinging round the NE and SE sides, probably petering out on the natural escarpment on the N and W; the innermost ditch is about 6m in breadth, while the two outer ones are about 4m in breadth. The remains of the accompanying ramparts survived on the S into the late 19th century. The interior is featureless, and while in 1912 Alexander Curle placed the entrance in the S quarter (RCAHMS 1920, 47, no.114), the cropmarks reveal no causeways across the ditch in this sector; the position of the entrance remains unknown.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -376998 Y: 7386839 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.3866291600282765 Latitude: 55.12846878006998 (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
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: | Flints found when the defences were sectioned |
| Post Hillfort: | Ploughed down |
First depicted on Roy's Map (1747-55), it is also mentioned in 1793 (Stat Acct 9, 1793, 425-6), before appearing in 1858 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 43.13), by which time the E sector of the defences was already ploughed down. What survived of the SW sector was to be further reduced by the time of a visit by David Christison in 1890 (1891, 252), and only a short sector of the middle rampart survived by 1898 (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 43.13). It was visited in 1912 by Alexander Curle during the preparation of the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire (RCAHMS 1920, 47, no.114). Having been re-surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS in 1966, the defences were apparently sectioned by S Simmonds in 1967. Cropmarks of the defences have been photographed from the air by CUCAP in 1964, and by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1984 and 1989. It was Scheduled in 2008.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1755): | Roy's Map (1747-55) |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1793): | Noted (Stat Acct 9, 1793, 425-6) |
| Other (1858): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 43.13) |
| Other (1890): | Description by David Christison (1891, 252) |
| Other (1912): | Description (RCAHMS 1920, 47, no.114) |
| Other (1964): | First photographed by CUCAP as a cropmark |
| Other (1966): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Excavation (1967): | Unpublished (Simmonds 1967) |
| Other (2008): | 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 | ✗ |
Flints found when the defences were sectioned in 1967
| 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
| 0: | Ploughed down all round |
| 2: | Alexander Curle located it on the S, but no details are recorded and the cropmark of the ditch is unbroken |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Triple ramparts and ditches
| Area 1: | 0.23ha. |
| Total: | 0.23ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.8ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 | ✗ |
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: 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
Simmonds, S (1967) 'Dryfesdalegate, flints', Disc Exc Scot 1967, 23
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