LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Scottish Borders 58705 (None)
NMR: NT 75 SW 2 (58705)
SM: 378
NGR: NT 7435 5351
X: 374350 Y: 653510 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the crest of Raecleugh Head Hill, which is itself the broad southern spur of Hardens Hill. Slightly oval on plan, its interior measures 66m from N to S by 57m transversely (0.3ha) within an unusual defensive scheme comprising twin ditches with a medial rampart up to 6.7m in thickness by 1.3m in height where it is best preserved on the E; the inner ditch appears more than simply an internal quarry, being regularly cut, some 6m in breadth by up to 0.6m in depth and there are slight traces of a low bank along its inner lip. On the crest of this bank on the E, and on the lip of the ditch elsewhere, there is a groove some 0.8m wide by 0.1m deep which superficially resembles a palisade trench, though it is difficult to believe that such an ephemeral feature could survive the sustained cultivation of the interior evidenced by a plot of curvilinear rigs within the area enclosed by the inner ditch; it is perhaps more likely that this bank is an enclosure around the rigs themselves. At some time the fort has also been enclosed externally by a bank that extends along the foot of the rampart, which externally stands up to 3m above the bottom of the outer ditch. This bank must partly be built on ditch silts and not only blocks what is probably an original entrance on the E, but also what may be a secondary cut through the defences on the SE; this bank has more the character of a later plantation ring, though there is no record of a plantation on the top of this hill.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -268330 Y: 7513611 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.4104465739813823 Latitude: 55.77427424279842 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Scottish Borders
Historic County: Berwickshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Langton
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: 299.0m
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: | Cultivated and enclosed, probably in the post-medieval period |
Photographed by John Dewar in 1971 (held by RCAHMS), and by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1976, 1988, 1993 and 2008
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1857): | Annotated Camp on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Berwick 1862, sheet 16.9) |
| Earthwork Survey (1894): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1895, 151-2, fig 20) |
| Other (1908): | Description (RCAHMS 1909, 35-6, no.178) |
| Earthwork Survey (1912): | Plan by James Hewat Craw and description (RCAHMS 1915, 104-5, no.202, fig 96; RCAHMS BWD 1550-1; BWD 19/1; BWD 19/1/3 & DP225405) |
| Other (1920): | Description (Aiken 1922, 196) |
| Other (1927): | Scheduled |
| Other (1961): | Re-Scheduled |
| Other (1970): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1979): | Description by RCAHMS |
| Other (2009): | Re-Scheduled |
Featureless apart from rigs
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 (North east): | Blocked by later bank |
| 2. Simple Gap (South east): | Uncertain whether this is original; blocked by later bank |
Twin ditches with a medial rampart; if the inner ditch is regarded as no more than a quarry and included in the interior, it increases in size to 0.45ha, but the regularity on the inner ditch rather belies this.
| Area 1: | 0.3ha. |
| Total: | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | A later bank clearly encircles the fort and overlies the rampart and outer ditch |
| ✓ | 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: 2
| ✗ | None |
Aiken, J (1922) 'Reports of Meetings for the Year 1920; (1) Duns for Raecleughhhead and Langton, 19th May'. Hist Berwickshire Natur Club 24 (1919-22), 195-217
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
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