LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 51372 (None)
NMR: NT 23 SW 3 (51372)
SM: 2952
NGR: NT 2015 3472
X: 320150 Y: 634720 (OSGB36)
This fort or fortified settlement lies beneath a dense forestry plantation that now clothes the E flank of Hunt Law, and occupies a low spur at the foot of the hill that has been forested since the early 19th century. Three lines of enclosure may be identified, but the band of rubble representing the innermost belongs to what is probably a later settlement and overlies the inner rampart of the fort on the E. The latter is oval on plan and measures about 70m from E to W by 49m transversely (0.27ha) within a single rampart reduced to a stony scarp; traces of an external ditch were noted by RCAHMS investigators in 1962 on the W, possibly accompanied by a counterscarp bank, and an outer rampart, again reduced to a scarp, was observed cutting across the neck of the spur on this side and petering out along its flanks. There are probable entrances on the E and SW, that on the E also serving the later settlement. This measures internally about 52m from E to W by 30m transversely (0.12ha) and contains traces of up to four stone-founded round-houses; a scooped area on the E immediately within the entrance had the appearance of a more recent quarry to the investigators in 1962.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -363883 Y: 7479109 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.2688145643402993 Latitude: 55.5995618069715 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Peeblesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Manor
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Under conifers, having been first planted in the early 19th century
| 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: 305.0m
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 since the early 19th century |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1888): | Drawn to David Christison's attention by a Mr Linton, Glenrath (1888, 197) |
| Earthwork Survey (1962): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1967, 117-18, no.282, fig 99; RCAHMS PBD 108/1-2) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1962): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1970): | Scheduled |
| Other (1974): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1981): | Visited by I M Smith (1990, Annex A, no.20) |
Occupied by a later settlement enclosing four stony ring-banks and a single scarp that may be the back of an earlier house platform
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Almost certainly later
| 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 | ✗ |
Obscured by trees
| 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. Simple Gap (East): | None |
| 2. Simple Gap (South): | None |
The walled settlement enclosure overlies a univallate fort with a possible outer rampart on the most accessible W side
| Area 1: | 0.27ha. |
| Total: | 0.27ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | The settlement enclosure overlies the earlier rampart on the E |
| ✓ | Excludes the settlement enclosure |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 2 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | Traces of a ditch on the more accessible W side |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Christison, D (1888) 'Notice of ancient remains in Manor Parish and other Districts of Peeblesshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 22 (1887-8), 192-207
RCAHMS (1967) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Peeblesshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v. HMSO: Edinburgh
Smith, I M (1990) The archaeological background to the emergent kingdoms of the Tweed basin in the early historic period. Unpublished PhD thesis submitted to the University of Durham
Atlas of Hillforts:
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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