LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 10850 (None)
NMR: NT 03 NE 1 (48584)
SM: 2611
NGR: NT 0539 3959
X: 305390 Y: 639590 (OSGB36)
THis fort is situated on the eastern tip of the long spur that extends ENE from Bizzyberry Hill. Its defences comprise two elements, namely an inner enclosure bounded by a spread stony bank 4m thick, and two outer rmaparts accompanied by external ditches. The inner enclosure is roughly oval on plan and measures internally 48m from N to S by 34m transversely (0.13ha); it has entrances on the E and probably the NW, though RCAHMS investigators in 1975 suggested the latter may be of recent origin (RCAHMS 1978, 107, no.239). They also suggested that the difference in character between perimeters of the inner and outer enclosures might indicate that the latter was earlier. Again roughly oval on plan, the outer ramparts enclose an area measuring 63m from N to S by 52m transversely (0.25ha), and there are entrances on the E and NW. The NW entrance is notable not only for a worn hollow extending up to the entrance in the inner enclosure, but also for the arrangement of the outer rampart, which diverges from the inner on the spine of the spur on the W, before cutting back at right-angles to form one side of an extended entrance way approaching the gap in the rampart. Whether this is an an original feature of the entrance is uncertain; it would have exposed the right side of approaching visitors, but the bank flanking the entrance may overlie the inner ditch, hinting that the arrangement is the result of other factors, which might also explain why its accompanying ditch turns down the S flank of the spur rather than pursuing a concentric line round towards the E. Within the interior there are the remains of at least one round-house comprising a stony ring-bank with an internal ring-ditch; there is possibly a second immediately to the N. These houses presumably belong to the final period of occupation within the interior, rather than to the earlier enclosure.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -390136 Y: 7487211 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.5046551409807134 Latitude: 55.64065908525241 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: South Lanarkshire
Historic County: Lanarkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Biggar
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Partly in a 19th century plantation, now reverted to pasture
| 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: 310.0m
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: | Bronze Age flat axe from a 'Camp' on Wintermuir Hill may come from here (RCAHMS 1978, 21; WOSAS 10852) |
| Post Hillfort: | Ploughed down in the post-medieval period and planted with trees |
CUCAP photographed the fort in 1972, and RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1980, 1981, 1990, 1991 and 2009.
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1726): | Probably noted as Bizzyberry by Alexander Gordon (1726, 115) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1858): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Lanark 1864, sheet 34.6) |
| Earthwork Survey (1889): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1890, 334-5, fig 28) |
| Earthwork Survey (1932): | Sketch-plan and description by James Hewat Craw, who died in 1933 (RCAHMS MS 28/343/2, MS 28/343/3, SAS343 a) |
| Earthwork Survey (1959): | Plan (RCAHMS LAD 146/1) |
| Other (1967): | Scheduled |
| Other (1972): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 |
| Earthwork Survey (1975): | Plan adapted from earlier survey and description (RCAHMS 1978, 107, no.239, fig 65; RCAHMS LAD 146/2) |
At least one round-house with an internal ring-ditch and an external stony bank, and possible traces of others.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Ring-ditch house
| 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 | ✗ |
Bronze flat axe possibly found here (Canmore 48595)
| 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
| 2: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Oblique (East): | Slightly staggered gaps. Oblique approach exposing left side |
| 2. Passage-way/Corridor (North west): | Dogleg where the outer rampart returns on one side of the entrance |
At least two ramparts, but possibly a third if the innermost is part of the fort rather than a later enclosure
| Area 1: | 0.13ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.25ha. |
| Total: | 0.25ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | 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 | ✗ |
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 |
Christison, D (1890) 'Forts, camps, and motes of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 24 (1889-90), 281-352
Gordon, A (1726) Itinerarium Septentrionale: or A Journey Thro' most of the Counties of Scotland And Those in the North of England. London
RCAHMS. (1978) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Lanarkshire: an inventory of the prehistoric and Roman monuments. 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