Whitelaw Hill
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Whitelaw Hill
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 56407
Site Number NT57SE 17
NGR NT 57186 71563
NGR Description Centre
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56407
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Whittingehame
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County East Lothian
NT57SE 17 NT 57185 71557
(NT 5719 7157) Fort (NR) (site of)
OS 6" map (1969)
Fort, Whitelaw Hill: This circular fort, with double or possibly triple, ditches and an internal diameter of about 350ft, is evidenced by a cropmark on the hill summit (CPE/Scot/UK257: 3133-4).
RCAHMS Marginal Lands MS 1954
This fort has been completely ploughed out and no trace is now visible on the ground.
Surveyed at 1:2500 from RAF AP's.
Visited by OS (RD) 22 March 1965
Further aerial photographs of this fort have been taken by the RCAHMS in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1994 and 1995. Also visible on CUCAP air photographs.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
Scheduled as Whitelaw Hill, enclosure.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 20 June 1994.
Aerial Photographic Interpretation (6 May 1954)
Fort, Whitelaw Hill.
A circular fort with double, possibly triple, ditches, and an internal diameter of about 350 ft, on the summit of Whitelaw Hill (1).
(1) CPE/Scot/UK 257, 3133-4.
Information from RCAHMS (KAS) 6 May 1954.
Reference (1957)
This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).
Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.
Note (16 December 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fort is situated on the southern shoulder of the broad summit of Whitelaw Hill. Slightly oval on plan, it measures 138m from NE to SW by 125m transversely (0.14ha) within a single ditch up to 4m in breadth; allowing for the presence of an internal rampart, the interior would have extended to about 1.16ha. No trace of the rampart is visible as such, but a faint ring of irregular marks within the line of the ditch are possibly traces of shallow quarries to the rear of the rampart; no other features are visible within the interior. There are clearly defined entrances on the SW and WNW, and probably two others on the NE and ESE respectively. The pit-alignments that approach obliquely from the E and W suggest that the perimeter of the fort may have been subsequently incorporated into a land boundary, as is the case with at least one other iron age enclosure in East Lothian.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3876
Note (11 December 2019)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.
