Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 54020 (None)
NMR: NT 40 NE 20 (54020)
SM: 2294
NGR: NT 4785 0576
X: 347800 Y: 605700 (OSGB36)
This small fortification is situated towards the tip of the SW spur of White Hill, which drops down gently from its broad summit on the NE, but falls away sharply to the Dod Burn on the NW, lying some 90m below on this flank, and into Pyat Sike on the S. Oval on plan, the conventional interpretation of the defences based on the plan and description drawn up by RCAHMS investigators in 1949 (1956, 112-13, no.158, fig 148) sees the insertion of a homestead into an earlier fort. Oval on plan, this earlier fortification measures about 62m from NE to SW by 45m transversely (0.24ha) within twin ramparts up to 1.2m high and a medial rock-cut ditch from 4.5m to 9m in breadth by up to 2.8m in depth. But while the inner rampart attains these proportions on the NE, elsewhere it is virtually levelled, and on the NW apparently overlain by the bank of the homestead, which is itself oval and measures internally 46m from NE to SW by 33m transversely (0.14ha). At face value the interpretation appears reasonable, but on the SE the bank of the homestead is largely a rib of outcrop, which towers above the supposedly levelled rampart set at its foot, to such an extent that the postulated relationship seems unlikely. Alternatively, this rib of outcrop and the innermost bank attributed to the homestead represent the primary line of defence to which the outer lines have been added; in this case there was no need to erect a rampart around the lower two thirds of the circuit, and the more substantial enhancement of the defences with ramparts to either side of the ditch was largely focussed on the uphill side on the NE, between the entrance on the ESE and the steep escarpment falling away to the NW. On the SW side of the entrance, the low bank visible on the inner lip of the ditch returns and unites with the outer rampart around the terminal of the ditch, and a worn entrance way can be seen extending from the causeway up to the gap into the innermost enclosure; there is also a gap in the latter on the W. The footings of a round-house can be seen in the centre of the interior and a smaller circular scoop on the N. An unusual system of linear earthworks encloses the spur to the NE and SE of the fort
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -314433 Y: 7428640 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.8245984666236112 Latitude: 55.34258037688137 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Roxburghshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Cavers
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: 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: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
None
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1770): | Shown as an unannotated ring on Mathew Stobies A Map of Roxburghshire or Tiviotdale (1770) |
| Other (1858): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Roxburgh 1863, sheet 32.10) |
| Earthwork Survey (1949): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1956, 112-13, no.158, fig 148; RCAHMS RXD 102/1-2) |
| Other (1963): | Scheduled |
| Other (1965): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Visited by SH |
| Other (1987): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
Footing of one round-house and a scoop indicating a second
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
| 2: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (South east): | Pierces three ramparts and has a return around the terminal of the ditch on one side |
| 2. Simple Gap (West): | In the innermost without clear evidence of a break in the outer defences. |
Three ramparts, the outer two with a medial ditch
| Area 1: | 0.14ha. |
| Total: | 0.14ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.46ha.
None
| ✓ | But the sequence is uncertain |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 |
RCAHMS (1956) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Roxburghshire: with the fourteenth report of the Commission, 2v. 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