Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC3649 Edston, Peeblesshire

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Scottish Borders 51311 (None)

NMR:  NT 23 NW 4 (51311)

SM:  None

NGR:  NT 2270 3978

X:  322700  Y:  639780  (OSGB36)

Summary

This fort was situated on a spur of hard rock that projected from the SE flank of the hill above the A72 public road to the ENE of Edston, but the site proved a convenient source of roadstone and by 1974 had already been destroyed by quarrying. A plan drawn up when it was first discovered in 1952 by RCAHMS investigators, by which time the quarry had destroyed only the S and SE flanks, suggests that the interior was oval on plan, measuring about 71m from NE to SW by 49m transversely (0.27ha). They were of opinion that the inner rampart may have been continuous, though the two outer ramparts drawn across the NW flank evidently were not, hooking back onto the line of the inner along the lip of the steep slope on the NE. The junction here with the inner rampart had been destroyed by earlier quarrying, but on the WSW the plan appears to show the medial rampart turning back under the inner. Nevertheless, the investigators saw no reason to conclude that the defences were not parts of a single scheme, along with a linear earthwork set across the hillside immediately N, extending from the lip of the slope on the E to peter out on the W in an area of post-medieval cultivation. The entrance lay on the W and two circular house-platforms were identified within the interior.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -359537  Y:  7488152  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -3.2297777391713125  Latitude:  55.645429516958366  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Scottish Borders

Historic County:  Peeblesshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Peebles

Monument Condition

Destroyed by 1974

Condition:
Extant   ✗
Cropmark   ✗
Likely Destroyed   ✓

Land Use

Quarry

Current Use:
Woodland   ✗
Commercial Forestry Plantation   ✗
Parkland   ✗
Pasture (Grazing)   ✗
Arable   ✗
Scrub/Bracken   ✗
Bare Outcrop   ✗
Heather/Moorland   ✗
Heath   ✗
Built-up   ✗
Coastal Grassland   ✗
Other   ✓

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort   ✓
Partial Contour Fort   ✗
Promontory Fort   ✗
Hillslope Fort   ✗
Level Terrain Fort   ✗
Marsh Fort   ✗
Multiple Enclosure Fort   ✗

Topographic Position

Position:
Hilltop   ✗
Coastal Promontory   ✗
Inland Promontory   ✗
Valley Bottom   ✗
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop   ✗
Ridge   ✗
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp   ✗
Hillslope   ✗
Lowland   ✗
Spur   ✓

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North   ✗
Northeast   ✗
East   ✗
Southeast   ✗
South   ✗
Southwest   ✗
West   ✗
Northwest   ✗
Level   ✓

Altitude:  243.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

There is no recoverable evidence upon which to date this fort

Reliability:  D - None

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC   ✗
1200BC - 800BC   ✗
800BC - 400BC   ✗
400BC - AD50   ✗
AD50 - AD400   ✗
AD400 - AD 800   ✗
Post AD800   ✗
Unknown   ✓

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   Destroyed by whinstone quarry

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

None

Investigations:
Earthwork Survey (1952):   Plan and description having been discovered through RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS 1967, 115-16, no.279, fig 96; RCAHMS PBD 105/1-3)
Other (1961):   Visited by the OS
Other (1974):   Revised at 1:2500 by the OS, who found that the fort had been completely removed

Interior Features

Two house platforms

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

Two platforms

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features   ✗
Round Stone Structures   ✗
Rectangular Stone Structures   ✗
Curvilinear Platforms   ✓
Other Roundhouse Evidence   ✗
Pits   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavation

None

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation   ✓
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics   ✓
Pits   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Finds

None

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds   ✓
Pottery   ✗
Metal   ✗
Metalworking   ✗
Human Bones   ✗
Animal Bones   ✗
Lithics   ✗
Environmental   ✗
Other   ✗

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked   ✓
None   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Other   ✗

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
1:   Large parts of the circuit destroyed by quarrying at the time it was first recorded in 1952

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (North west):   None

Enclosing Works

Three ramparts, probably representing at least two periods of construction, and a linear earthwork on the N

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.27ha.
Total:   0.27ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✓   The sequence between the inner enclosure and the outer defences is implicit in the way it was drawn on plan by RCAHMS investigators

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   1
SE Quadrant:   0
SW Quadrant:   2
NW Quadrant:   3
Total:   3

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✓
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✓
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✓
Multivallate   ✗
Unknown   ✗

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗

Surface Evidence

Grass-grown rubble at the time they were recorded

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✗
Rubble   ✓
Wall-walk   ✗
Evidence of Timber   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavated Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✗
Murus Duplex   ✗
Timber-framed   ✗
Timber-laced   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
No Known Excavation   ✓
Other   ✗

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✗   None

Number of Ditches:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

RCAHMS (1967) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Peeblesshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v. HMSO: Edinburgh



Terms of Use

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


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