LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 58009 (None)
NMR: NT 71 NW 12 (58009)
SM: 2170
NGR: NT 7439 1750
X: 374390 Y: 617500 (OSGB36)
This fort occupies the summit of Cunzierton Hill, which is the first hill to the W of the Roman Road S of Whitton Edge. Roughly oval on plan, it measures 152m from NE to SW by 76m transversely within a rampart reduced to a bank of rubble up to 0.9m in internal height; the material from the ramparts has been extracted from linear quarries immediately to the rear. Outer defences represented by short arcs of rampart are visible at both ends, apparently forming little more than hornworks springing from the main rampart. In 1947 RCAHMS investigators suggested these were simply to provide additional protection at the entrances on the NE and SW, but it is notable that the defences at the third entrance into the fort, midway along the SE side, have no additional enhancement. This last entrance is approached by a terraced trackway that drops down to a boggy hollow that they suggested was a pond. Another trackway drops down from below the NE entrance, but it is unclear whether this is an original feature or to service a later quarry. There is little trace of any round-house stances in the interior, though the RCAHMS investigators noted several 'indefinite scoopings' in the SW end.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -267885 Y: 7449838 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.4064485176048382 Latitude: 55.450719106874274 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Roxburghshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Oxnam
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: 336.0m
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 |
Photographed from the air by Dennis Harding in 1982, John Dent in 1991 and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1992 and 2000
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1837): | Description (NSA, iii, Roxburgh, 259) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1859): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Roxburgh ) |
| Other (1884): | Noted (Geikie 1884, 143) |
| Other (1885): | Description by James Hardy (1886, 29) |
| Other (1926): | Description by James H Craw (1928, 41) |
| Earthwork Survey (1947): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1956, 373-4, no.792, fig, 480; RCAHMS RXD 173/1-2) |
| Other (1961): | Scheduled |
| Other (1968): | Revised by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
RCAHMS investigators in 1947 noted several 'indefinite scoopings' in the SW half of the interior, but no clear traces of timber round-houses can be seen on aerial photographs taken under a range of conditions.
A sump at the foot of the hill on the E was identified as a pond connected to the fort by a trackway
| 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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 3: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Hornwork (North east): | Short segment of outer rampart possibly being a hornwork outside a simple gap |
| 2. Simple Gap (South east): | Approached by trackway |
| 2. Hollow Way (South east): | Well-formed trackway mounting the slope |
| 3. Hornwork (South west): | Short segment of outer rampart possibly being a hornwork outside a simple gap |
Single rampart, with hornworks at the entrances at either end
| Area 1: | 0.85ha. |
| Total: | 0.85ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.3ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Grass-grown rubble
| 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: None
| ✗ | None |
Craw, J H (1928) 'Reports of meetings for 1926'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 26 (1926-8), 16-50
Geikie, J (1884) «List of hill forts, intrenched camps, etc. in Roxburghshire on the Scotch side of the Cheviots». Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 10 (1882-4) 139-44.
Hardy, J 1886 'Report of Meetings of Berwickshire Naturalist's Club, for the year 1885'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 11 (1885-6), 10-93
NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy.
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