LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG7918 (None)
NMR: NY 38 NW 2 (67618)
SM: 4396
NGR: NY 3045 8834
X: 330450 Y: 588340 (OSGB36)
This fortified settlement occupies a broad, sloping, shelf on the NE spur of Shaw Hill. Oval on plan, it measures 70m from NW to SE by 53m transversely within twin ramparts with a medial ditch, though little trace of the outer rampart can be seen around the uphill, SW quarter, and elsewhere it has been severely reduced by post-medieval cultivation. Nevertheless, the inner rampart measures up to 7m in thickness by 1m in height, while the ditch is 5.5m in breadth and up to 1m in depth. There are four gaps in the defences, but only two, on the NE and NW respectively are certainly original, and at both the ramparts return around the terminals of the ditch. The gap on the SW is evidently a more recent break where a hollowed trackway descends the hill across the interior, and it is likely a gap on the SE has a similar origin, though it has also been mutilated by post-medieval cultivation. At least five house platforms can be seen within the interior, which has been deeply scooped into the slope on the SW; two of the platforms lie within a later enclosure which has been formed out of the W quadrant of the interior to enclose an area measuring about 30m from NW to SE by 26m transversely within a bank spread up to 4.5m in thickness by 0.6m in height; this enclosure is probably the remains of a late Iron Age settlement. The braided trackways on the spur above the fort show that this spur has been extensively used as a routeway, and it is notable that in addition to the fort itself there are two linear earthworks crossing the axis of the spur, respectively 195m and 280m up the slope to the SW.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -344402 Y: 7397749 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.093819371124991 Latitude: 55.18446120102605 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Dumfriesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Westerkirk
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: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | A later enclosure, possibly of Late Iron Age date, has been inserted into the W quadrant of the interior, and the enclosure is not only crossed by later trackways, but has been incorporated into a post-medieval field-system |
First depicted in 1857 on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 44), the fort was visited by Alexander Curle in 1912 during the preparation of the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire (RCAHMS 1920, 218, no.647). It was surveyed by George Jobey in 1967 (Jobey 1971, 91, fig 11), It was visited by the OS in 1979 and revisited by RCAHMS in 1981. It was Scheduled in 1987 and has since been surveyed in detail by RCAHMS in 1991 (RCAHMS 1997, 163, fig 171).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1857): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1862, sheet 44) |
| Other (1912): | Description (RCAHMS 1920, 218, no.647) |
| Earthwork Survey (1967): | George Jobey (Copies in RCAHMS DFD 276/1-2 P/CO) |
| Other (1979): | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
| Other (1981): | Description by RCAHMS |
| Earthwork Survey (1991): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1997, 163, fig 171; RCAHMS DC32466 & SC 1352984; DC 32633 ) |
At least five round-house platforms, two of them lying within the later enclosure formed in the W quadrant of the interior
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 | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 4: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (North east): | Ramparts return around the terminals of the ditch |
| 2. Simple Gap (South east): | Possible entrance but mutilated |
| 3. Passage-way/Corridor (North west): | Ramparts return around the terminals of the ditch |
Twin ramparts with a medial ditch, with a later enclosure inserted into the rear of the interior
| Area 1: | 0.32ha. |
| Total: | 0.32ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.56ha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Jobey, G (1971) 'Early settlements in eastern Dumfriesshire'. Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, 3 Ser, 48 (1971), 78-105
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