Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 54652 (None)
NMR: NT 45 SW 4 (54652)
SM: 1170
NGR: NT 4005 5188
X: 340050 Y: 651880 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the rounded summit of Chapel Hill opposite Corsehope Rings (Atlas No.3724), from which it is separated by a deep and steep-sided valley. Slightly oval on plan, it measures about 82m from N to S by 72m transversely (0.48ha) within a single rampart and ditch, but there are also traces of a palisade trench within the interior enclosing an area about 55m in diameter (0.24ha). Where best preserved, on the N, the rampart stands 1.2m high internally and up to 3m above the bottom of the surrounding ditch, but the sector on the SE side of the stone dyke that traverses the fort from NE to SW has been more heavily reduced, probably accounting for an irregularity in the line of the perimeter adjacent the dyke on the SW. The rest of the interior has also been lightly cultivated, but traces of the stances of at least two timber round-houses can be discerned. The entrance lies on the W.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -329150 Y: 7510111 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.9568040489086616 Latitude: 55.75658928275431 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Midlothian
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Stow
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: 373.0m
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: | Ploughed down on the SE side of the stone dyke that overlies the fort |
Photographed by Mike Brooks of Historic Scotland in 1979, by CUCAP in 1979, and by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1989. Site has been visited on several occasions by S Halliday, leading to the identification of the palisade trench.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1755): | Shown on General William Roy's Military Map of Scotland (1747-55) |
| Other (1773): | Concentric ring on a hill symbol and annotated Old Camp on Mostyn Armstrong's Map of the three Lothians (1773) |
| Other (1853): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Edinburghshire 1854, sheet 23) |
| Other (1882): | David Christison refers to a publication entitled 'Notes on the Catrail' (1882) by a Miss Russell (1895, 118-19) |
| Other (1894): | Description by David Christison (1895, 118-19) |
| Earthwork Survey (1913): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1929, 169-70, no.234, fig 203; RCAHMS MLD 35/1-2) |
| Other (1924): | Scheduled |
| Other (1954): | Visited during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 138) |
| Other (1975): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1995): | Re-Scheduled |
Lightly cultivated, but traces of the stances of at least two timber round-houses are visible to the NW of the stone dyke
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
At least two
| 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 | ✗ |
Reveals the palisade trench
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (West): | None |
Single rampart and ditch, but with traces of a palisade trench visible within the interior
| Area 1: | 0.48ha. |
| Total: | 0.48ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.76ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Christison, D (1895) 'The forts of Selkirk, the Gala Water, the Southern slopes of the Lammermoors, and the north of Roxburgh'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 29 (1894-50), 108-79
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
RCAHMS (1929) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Midlothian and West Lothian. 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