LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: East Lothian Council MEL1699 (None)
NMR: NT 67 SW 15 (57809)
SM: 6067
NGR: NT 6002 7299
X: 360022 Y: 672992 (OSGB36)
First revealed by cropmarks, this fort or fortified settlement is situated on the lip of the escarpment dropping down to the NE bank of the Whittingehame Water SW of Whittingehame Castle. D-shaped on plan, two ditches about 5m apart form a semi-circular arc backing onto the escarpment on the SE to enclose an area measuring some 80m from NE to SW by a little over 40m transversely (0.25ha); allowing for the presence of an inner rampart the interior probably extended to about 0.2ha. No entrance is visible on the aerial photographs, but a geophysical survey carried out in 2000 shows a possible causeway across the main ditch on the N, at the point where the perimeter descends into a shallow gully. Subsequent excavation of the SW half of the enclosure in 2002 (Haselgrove et al 2009) showed the inner ditch was some 5.5m in breadth by 2.6m in depth and its fill contained evidence of a recut 1.85m deep; the outer ditch varied between 2m and 2.5m broad by 0.65m and 1.2m deep, and it too had been recut. No trace of the ramparts survived, but to either side of the outer ditch arcs of palisade trench were uncovered, apparently representing overlapping terminals of an entrance into an earlier timber enclosure. Some 8m within the inner ditch there was evidence of another minor ditch following a concentric line, and though its relationship to the main enclosure is uncertain, it preceded a scooped yard that had been dug into the interior and surfaced with cobbling; a barley seed from amongst a spread of stones on the S side of this yard, possibly representing a limited resurfacing, returned a date of AD 60-240. This yard was overlain eccentrically by a more extensive area of cobbles and paving, elements of which may have been the floors of structures, despite the absence of any evidence of their walls. An enamelled copper-alloy stud and a worn Samian sherd dating from the 2nd century AD were found in a hearth-like feature within this surface, while two radiocarbon dates of AD 330-540 and 350-550 were returned from burnt barley and hazelnut from silts forming the upper fills in the original scooped yard. While these and dates from other features clearly demonstrate a late Roman Iron Age occupation, the main enclosure is not securely dated. Neither the sample from the recut in the outer ditch from which a Neolithic date was returned, nor that dated to the Late Bronze Age from the basal fill of the recut in the main ditch is taphonomically secure.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -294074 Y: 7548138 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.6417153573412544 Latitude: 55.94833572982975 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: East Lothian
Historic County: East Lothian
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Whittingehame
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: 110.0m
N/A
Despite the number of dates, only three relate to the perimeter, one being late Roman Iron Age from an upper fill in the recut of the main ditch, the second Late Bronze Age from the base of this recut, and the third Late Neolithic from the base of the recut of the outer ditch. The excavator considered the last two dates taphonomically insecure, but nevertheless postulated a Late Bronze Age origin for the enclosure; this interpretation is rejected here, since residual Middle and Late Bronze Age dates occur widely through the enclosures of East Lothian. What is beyond doubt, however, is that the interior was in use in the Late Roman Iron Age, and on analogy with settlements elsewhere, possibly from the late pre-Roman Iron Age.
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | The interior appears to have been occupied by a Roman Iron Age settlement |
| Artefactual: | Sherd of 2nd century Samian and an enamelled copper alloy stud |
| C14: | 18 dates from a range of contexts, only two of which relate directly to the defences |
Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1983 and 1998
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1983): | First photographed by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme |
| Other (1994): | Scheduled |
| Geophysical Survey (2000): | Geophysical survey (Haselgrove et al 2009, 24, fig 3.2) |
| Excavation (2002): | Excavation (Haselgrove 2002; Haselgrove et al 2009) |
While the excavations identified a scooped yard and two successive cobbled and paved surfaces within the interior, these are likely to belong to a Roman Iron Age occupation, and while the later surface may have contained the floors of several structures no evidence of their walls survived .
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 | ✗ |
Extensive cobbling and paving, partly within a scooped yard
| 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 | ✓ |
Finds include: five sherds of coarse pottery; three sherds of worn Samian of 2nd century date; a copper alloy stud with blue enamelling; a saddle quern; two stone hones and three cobble tools, one a hammerstone the other two with patches of polish; and a stone block with incised lines.
| 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
| 2: | Ploughed flat |
| 2: | The excavator suggests a possible entrance on the geophysical survey on the N, while the excavation uncovered an entrance in what was probably an earlier timber enclosure on the W |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North): | Possible causeway on the geophysical survey |
| 2. Over-lapping (West): | Through an earlier palisade |
Two ditches, presumably with upcast ramparts, forming a D-shaped enclosure backing onto a steep escarpment
| Area 1: | 0.2ha. |
| Total: | 0.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | Almost certainly succeeds a palisaded perimeter |
| ✗ | Almost certainly present but not visible on the NE |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Two ditches, both with evidence of recutting. No trace of the ramparts survived
| 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 |
| ✓ | The minor ditch found within the interior is excluded here |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
Haselgrove, C (2002) «Whittingehame Tower, East Lothian (Whittingehame parish), Iron Age settlement». Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 3 (2002), 43
Haselgrove, C, Carne, P and Fitts, L (2009) «Excavations at Whittingehame Tower». 23-42 in Haselgrove, C (2009) The Traprain Law Environs Project: Fieldwork and Excavations 2000-2004. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: 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