Archaeology Notes

Event ID 721397

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/721397

NX05SW 6 0356 5058.

(NX 0357 5058) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map (1957) and 1:10000 (1976)

This promontory fort is defended on the landward side by three ramparts with external ditches, enclosing an area 180' by 85'. The outermost rampart is 14' thick at base, with the others 11' and 8' wide respectively, the ditches being 15', 18' and 27' wide by 3', 5'6" and 8' deep. Towards the W a turf bank crosses the ditches and is traceable passing along the cliff edge in the interior. The entrance is c.18' from the edge of the slope on the E side, flanked by two low turf mounds, which may be the remains of an outer rampart which has otherwise been destroyed by the ploughing which extends to the lip of the ditch.

A breastwork mentioned in 1911, some 30' below the summit on the W, is natural. There is no trace of facings on the ramparts and the whole site is covered with grass and bracken.

R W Feachem 1963; RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911; TS. 1955

As described by RCAHMS, except that the low mounds flanking the entrance have been destroyed. The turf bank on the west side is comparatively modern.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 4 September 1970

A well-preserved fort is situated on a steep-sided promontory 450m S of Kirkauchline farmhouse. Three ramparts with external ditches block the level NE approach to the promontory, dropping down the steep slope on the SE to end on the cliff-edge below. The ramparts reduce in size from the interior outwards, the first measuring up to 8m in thickness by 1.8m in height, the second 4.8m by 0.8m and the third 3.5m by 0.6m; their corresponding ditches measure 4m in breadth by 0.6m in depth, 4.5m by 0.5m and 4m by 0.3m respectively. The third ditch, which is now flat-bottomed, has traces of a counterscarp bank at the edge of the steep slope on the SE. The interior measures 39m from NE to SW by 30m transversely and the present entrance passes through the defences on the SE side of the promontory; the scars of the ramparts and ditches, however, are visible running across the entrance way and it is unlikely to be an original feature of the fort. A field-bank of relatively recent date cut across the NW end of the defences, and cultivation ridges run up to the lip of the outermost ditch on the NE.

A breastwork noted on a shelf about 9m below the level of the interior on the W is a natural feature.

Name Book; G Wilson 1885; R W Feachem 1977; RCAHMS 1912; 1985, visited (SH) August 1984