LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 10732 (None)
NMR: NS 94 SE 19 (47648)
SM: None
NGR: NS 9884 4185
X: 298840 Y: 641850 (OSGB36)
This defended enclosure is situated on the broad SW spur of Libberton Moor. Roughly circular on plan, it measures about 70m in diameter (0.38ha) within twin banks with a medial ditch, though these have been heavily ploughed down and reduced to mere undulations in the surface of the field. Nevertheless, cropmarks clearly reveal the scar of the inner rampart, which was between 6m and 7m thick, and an internal quarry scoop immediately to its rear. The ditch is generally between 6m and 8m in breadth, expanding to 10m adjacent to the entrance on the W; both here and at an opposed entrance on the E, the inner and outer ramparts return and unite around the terminals of the ditch. Apart from the internal quarry, the interior is featureless and there is no trace of the curling pond shown occupying the western half on the 1st edition of the OS 25-inch map (Lanarkshire 1864, sheet 33.3).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -401808 Y: 7490955 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.6095052612680494 Latitude: 55.65963819813681 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: South Lanarkshire
Historic County: Lanarkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Libberton
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: 210.0m
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: | Used as curling pond and ploughed flat |
Described in the Statistical Account in 1792 (Stat Acct 2, 1792, 242-3), it is shown on William Forrest's map of the County of Lanark from Actual Survey (1816), and in 1858 shown in detail on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Lanarkshire 1864, sheet 33.3). By 1864, however, the earthworks had been virtually levelled and the site taken under plough (Irving and Murray 1864, i, 15). It was visited by David Christison in 1889 (Christison 1890, 338-9), and by RCAHMS in 1963 and 1969 during the preparation of the County Inventory for Lanarkshire (RCAHMS 1978, 149, no.291), having been previously photographed as a cropmark by CUCAP, and it has been re-photographed on numerous occasions since, and by some mistakenly interpreted as the remains of a henge monument (Harding and Lee 1987, 393, no.293). A programme of geophysical survey and trial excavation was undertaken in 1999 (Sharpe and Hamer 1999), and further geophysical work in 2006 (Paton 2006)
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1792): | Noted (Stat Acct 2, 1792, 242-3) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1816): | Annotated Camp on William Forrest's map of The county of Lanark from actual survey (1816) |
| Other (1858): | Named Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Lanarkshire 1864, sheet 33.3) |
| Other (1864): | Description (Irving and Murray 1864, i, 15) |
| Other (1889): | Noted by David Christison (1890, 338-9) |
| Other (1963): | Visited by RCAHMS |
| Other (1968): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1969): | Description (RCAHMS 1978, 149, no.291) |
| Geophysical Survey (1999): | Sharpe and Hamer 1999 |
| Excavation (1999): | Sharpe and Hamer 1999 |
| Geophysical Survey (2006): | Paton 2006 |
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 | ✗ |
Merely revealed the perimeter
| 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
| 2: | Ploughed down |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (East): | None |
| 2. Passage-way/Corridor (West): | None |
Twin banks with a medial ditch
| Area 1: | 0.38ha. |
| Total: | 0.38ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.13ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 |
Christison, D (1890) 'Forts, camps, and motes of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 24 (1889-90), 281-352
Harding and Lee, A F and G E (1987) Henge monuments and related sites of Great Britain: air photographic evidence and catalogue, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British, vol.175 Oxford
Irving and Murray, G V and A (1864) The upper ward of Lanarkshire described and delineated, 3v Glasgow
RCAHMS (1978) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Lanarkshire: an inventory of the prehistoric and Roman monuments. HMSO: Edinburgh
Sharpe and Hamer, L and J (1999) 'Craigie Burn (Libberton parish), geophysical survey of ?henge', Disc Exc Scot 1999, 84-85
Stat Acct (date) 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