LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 10960 (None)
NMR: NT 03 SW 45 (48779)
SM: 2651
NGR: NT 0354 3216
X: 303540 Y: 632160 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the summit of the north spur projecting from the lower slopes of the ridge known as Bracks Head. Its defences have been severely mauled by stone-robbing and cultivation, but enough remains visible to show that there are three ramparts, probably representing two periods of construction. The innermost, and probably the later, has been entirely obliterated on the NW but elsewhere forms a bank up to 4.9m in thickness by 1.2m in height, which appears to overlie the back of the middle rampart on the S. The interior is oval on plan, measuring about 61m from NNE to SSW by 40m transversely (0.19ha), and the entrance is on the NE, conforming to the entrance through the outer ramparts. These too are severely reduced, forming low banks and scarps that rise no more than 0.6m above the bottom of a medial ditch, and enclose an area measuring 77m from NNE to SSW by 50m transversely (0.33ha); a gap in the circuit on the N is probably relatively recent, as is the evidence of occupation in the interior, which comprises three rectangular foundations, at least two of them being the remains of buildings. The only other features visible in the interior are a shallow surface quarry and a raised area of outcrop.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -393117 Y: 7473987 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.531431919950477 Latitude: 55.5735573107881 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: South Lanarkshire
Historic County: Lanarkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Culter
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: 306.0m
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: | Heavily reduced by stone robbing and cultivation, there has also been quarrying in the interior |
Photographed by CUCAP in 1969 and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1980, 1991 and 1996; RCAHMS also holds copies of infrared linescan images collected in 1993
| Earthwork Survey (1855): | Sketch-plan and description by George Irving (11, pl 2 fig 10; Irving and Murray 1864, 13, pl 2 fig 6) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1859): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1864, sheet 40) |
| Earthwork Survey (1889): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1890, 309-10, fig 11) |
| Earthwork Survey (1959): | Plan (RCAHMS LAD 142/1) |
| Other (1968): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1970): | Plan of 1959 and description (RCAHMS 1978, 104, no.235, fig 61) |
| Other (1972): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
Fragments of two rectangular buildings and an enclosure within the interior are probably associated with the extensive post medieval field-system that once clothed the surrounding hillside, but is now reduced to fragments of rig and terracing around the margins of the enclosed fields.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
The rectangular structures are likely to be the remains of a post-medieval farmstead
| 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 | ✗ |
The rectangular structures are likely to be the remains of a post-medieval farmstead
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 2: | Gap on the N is a relatively modern break |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | Piercing all the ramparts |
Three ramparts, probably representing two phases, the two outer being the earlier and separated by a medial ditch
| Area 1: | 0.19ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.33ha. |
| Total: | 0.33ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.55ha.
None
| ✓ | The innermost circuit probably overlies the back of the middle rampart on the S |
| ✓ | Probably complete circuits of all three ramparts |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Christison, D (1890) 'Forts, camps, and motes of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 24 (1889-90), 281-352
Irving, G V (1855) 'On ancient camps of the upper ward of Lanarkshire'. J Brit Archaeol Ass 10 (1855), 1-32
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
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