Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017437
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017437
This rectangular earthwork on the slope of Camp Hill, north-west of Rispain Farm, is an object-lesson in the perils of archaeological fIeld survey and excavation. Long believed to have been of Roman origin, it was excavated in 1901 but yielded no evidence of date or character. It was later re-classifIed as a possible medieval moated site, although its size, situation, and deep V-shaped ditch were acknowledged to be untypical. With the assistance of radiocarbon dating techniques, excavations in 1978-81 were able to establish that it was neither Roman nor medieval, but a defended native homestead dating to around 60 BC.
The most impressive visible feature is the surrounding ditch, originally 5.8m in depth, whose upcast has provided material for earthen banks on each side. Infilled in the south-eastern quarter, the ditch runs almost straight along each side, and a solid bridge of uncut ground, 6.1m wide, forms the entrance in thenorth-eastern side. Excavation located a square-cut pit, possibly a water-cistern, in the east corner of the ditch; other ditches and drains around the south and west sides probably related more to fIeld drainage than defence.
Superficially featureless except for traces of a low perimeter bank, the interior covers an area of about 0.35 ha. At the entrance the recent excavations revealed possible evidence for a framed timber gateway, and traces of a metalled road led into the enclosure. An area on the north-western side, roughly one-eighth of the whole, contained at least one circular house, 13.5m in diameter, and probably originally of post, plank, and ring beam construction. The most noteworthy artefact for dating purposes was an enamelled bronze plate forming part of a bracelet ascribable to the late 1st or 2nd century AD.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
