Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 48735 (None)
NMR: NT 03 SE 5 (48735)
SM: 2740
NGR: NT 0816 3323
X: 308160 Y: 633230 (OSGB36)
This fort occupies a local summit known as Knowe Kniffling on the spur descending N from Common Law, from which the ground falls away steeply on all sides except the saddle on the SSE. Oval on plan, the defences comprise no fewer than four ramparts, but these probably represent two separate schemes of defence, of which the inner two belong to the later. Oval on plan, this latter enclosure measures about 55m from NE to SW by 42m transversely within a stone rampart that has been reduced by robbing to little more than a thin scatter of stones; its outer rampart has fared slightly better, forming a low bank to either side of the entrance on the NE but elsewhere reduced to a scarp. This outer rampart, however, appears to overlie the lines of the two outer ramparts, which otherwise swing round the NE flank on a wider arc, though the inner of them cuts back rather more sharply on the E side to flank the entrance at the NE end. While evidently larger than the inner enclosure, perhaps enclosing in excess of 0.3ha, it would be misleading to suggest that the configuration of these outer ramparts is fully understood; indeed the RCAHMS plan drawn up in 1957, which traces the lip of the counterscarp of the ditch accompanying the outermost rampart round the circuit in a break of slope appears to have conflated elements of both the third and fourth ramparts on the E. The interior of the fort is featureless.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -385003 Y: 7476056 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.458541101440819 Latitude: 55.58406191701792 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Peeblesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Broughton, Glenholm And Kilbucho
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: 406.0m
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: | Heavy stone robbing and later cultivation |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1981, 1993 and 2010
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1856): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Peebles 1859, sheet 15.11) |
| Other (1864): | Listed by William Chambers (1864, 30) |
| Earthwork Survey (1886): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1887, 63-4, pl 5, fig 64) |
| Earthwork Survey (1957): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1967, 127-8, no.298, fig 113; RCAHMS PBD 122/1-2) |
| Other (1964): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1968): | Scheduled |
| Other (1974): | Visited by the OS |
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 | ✗ |
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
| 1: | None |
| 2: | In and outer defences possibly represent separate phases |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | Through inner defences |
| 1. Oblique (North east): | Faces E through the outer defences, creating an oblique approach exposing the visitor's left side |
Up to four lines of ramparts, but possibly representing two periods of enclosure, in which the inner two superseded an earlier fort; the latter may have enclosed as much as 0.3ha.
| Area 1: | 0.19ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.3ha. |
| Total: | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.67ha.
None
| ✓ | In its present state the sequence cannot be demonstrated by survey, but is implied by the disposition of the ramparts |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 4 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Total: | 4 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | Accompanying the outermost rampart |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Chambers, W (1864) A History of Peeblessire. William and Robert Chambers: Edinburgh and London
Christison, D (1887) 'The prehistoric forts of Peeblesshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 21 (1886-7), 13-82
RCAHMS (1967) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Peeblesshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 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