Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Scottish Borders 58616 (None)
NMR: NT 75 NE 7 (58616)
SM: 376
NGR: NT 7957 5938
X: 379570 Y: 659380 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on a ridge forming part of Bunkle Edge, occupying the W shoulder of the steep-sided cleft taken by the A6112 public road. Heart-shaped on plan, it measures 77m from E to W by 57m transversely (0.47ha) within the inner rampart, which extends round the whole circuit, including the N flank and the flattened E end, where the ground falls away sharply into the cleft. This rampart is also accompanied by an external ditch, which forms a terrace on the slope in the cleft, while elsewhere, there is a second rampart with an external ditch and a counterscarp bank, forming a belt some 35m deep. On the WSW, however, terminating on the S side of the entrance on the W, the crests of both the inner and second ramparts split into two, almost certainly reflecting two periods of construction, in the later of which the line of the second rampart has clearly been pushed outwards, presumably as a device to not only increase the length of the entrance way, but also to increase the depth of the defences on the visitor's right side. The outer ditch and the third rampart also follow this outer line concentrically, implying that these too belong to this modification, which introduced a stagger in the terminals of the outer ramparts to either side of the gap. Thus In the earlier phase the defences probably comprised twin ramparts with a medial ditch, while a second entrance descending into the cleft on the E may have served in both. The interior is heavily overgrown with bracken and the traces of shallow circular depressions observed by James Hewat Craw about 1912 (RCAHMS 1915, 9-10, no.21, fig 7) can no longer be detected.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -259116 Y: 7524106 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.32767873131215 Latitude: 55.82726589714448 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Berwickshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Bunkle And Preston
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Having been partly planted with conifers in the 19th century, and then fully planted, the site is now cleared
| 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: 220.0m
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 |
Photographed by John Dewar in 1971 (held by RCAHMS), and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1981 and 1999
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1771): | Almost certainly the westernmost of four concentric ring on a hill symbols on Andrew and Mostyn Armstrong's Map of the County of Berwick (1771) |
| Other (1857): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1862, sheet 10.11) |
| Earthwork Survey (1894): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison, assisted by Mr H Hewat Craw (Christison 1895, 167-9, fig 26) |
| Earthwork Survey (1895): | Plan and description by Francis Lynn (366-7, fig) |
| Other (1908): | Description (RCAHMS 1909, 5, no.20) |
| Earthwork Survey (1912): | Plan by James Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 9-10, no.21, fig 7; RCAHMS BWD 18/1; BWD 18/1/12 & DP225487) |
| Other (1927): | Scheduled |
| Other (1950): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1961): | Re-Scheduled |
| Other (1970): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Description by RCAHMS |
| Other (2001): | Re-Scheduled |
James Hewat Craw shows at least four shallow depressions that he thought were the stances of structures (RCAHMS 1915, 9-10, no.21, fig 7), but these are no longer visible in the overgrown interior, which has also been planted with trees since Craw's day
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 | ✗ |
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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| 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): | Down the steep escarpment to the rear |
| 2. Other Forms (West): | Piercing all the defences and showing evidence of modification, in which the terminals of the ramparts were staggered, to extend the length of the entrance way on the visitor's right side |
Up to three ramparts with intermediate ditches, but probably representing a modification of a twin rampart with medial ditch scheme
| Area 1: | 0.47ha. |
| Total: | 0.47ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.2ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | The outer is probably an addition |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | 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
Lynn, F (1895) 'Bunkle Edge Forts'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 15 (1894-5), 365-76
RCAHMS (1909) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. First report and Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Berwick. HMSO: Edinburgh.
RCAHMS (1915) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Sixth report and Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Berwick (Revised Issue). 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