LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 51259 (None)
NMR: NT 23 NE 3 (51259)
SM: 2953
NGR: NT 2692 3821
X: 326920 Y: 638210 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the summit of the spur at the foot of the N flank of Craig Head, and is separated from the main bulk of the hill on the S by a deep glacial outwash channel. Oval on plan, its defences comprise two elements, namely an inner enclosure bounded by a wall, and an outer enclosure with up to three ramparts. All, however, have been heavily reduced, partly by cultivation, but also by robbing, and it is difficult to trace the outer ramparts beyond short arcs on the SW and NE respectively. The inner enclosure measures internally about 60m from NE to SW by little more than 45m transversely (0.24ha), and its wall is not only heavily robbed but the spread of rubble is surmounted by an old plantation bank. There are gaps on the NW and SE respectively, but in it present state it is difficult to be certain that either is an original entrance. Within the interior, however, there are traces of a series of shallow ring-ditch houses that escaped the RCAHMS investigators who drew up a plan in 1959, but do appear faintly on oblique aerial photographs. The outer element, conceived by the investigators as a possible annexe to the inner enclosure, is more likely to be the remains of a free-standing scheme of defence taking in a much larger area measuring about 85m from NE to SW by 65m transversely. The character of its perimeter, however, is uncertain, for while there appear to have been three ramparts with intermediate ditches for a short distance on the SW, the outermost quickly disappears and the inner peters out on the W after a distance of no more than 40m, and reappearing only intermittently around the N and NE; on the line of the outer ramparts on the NE there is also what has been depicted as a ditch, but is conceivably no more than a later quarry pit. In all the outer circuit is unsatisfactory and it is unclear whether this is the result of subsequent destruction or because it was never completed.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -352028 Y: 7485499 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.1623241535818405 Latitude: 55.6319788917879 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Peeblesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Peebles
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: 314.0m
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: | Planted with trees and overlain by a plantation bank and a stone dyke |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1983, 1986 and 2010
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1775): | Concentric ring symbol on Mostyn Armstrong's map of The County of Peebles or Tweedale (1775) |
| Other (1856): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Peebles 1859, sheet 13.11) |
| Other (1864): | Listed by William Chambers (1864, 29) |
| Earthwork Survey (1886): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1887, 65, pl 3, fig 55) |
| Earthwork Survey (1959): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1967, 105-6, no.265, fig 82; RCAHMS PBD 93/1-2) |
| Other (1970): | Scheduled |
| Other (1971): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
Contains traces of ring-ditch houses
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Ring-ditch houses
| 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: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Inner enclosure with a fragmentary outer enclosure that has either been heavily robbed or was never finished
| Area 1: | 0.24ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.45ha. |
| Total: | 0.45ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 4 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 4 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✓ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
The outer defences are possibly unfinished
| 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 |
| ✓ | Probably two for a short distance on the SW |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
Chambers, W (1864) A History of Peeblesshire. 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