Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017438
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017438
Keeping at bay a besieging force comprising massed ranks of conifers, the most remarkable of the iron-age hillforts in Eskdale still displays an impressive show of strength. It also continues to pose problems of interpretation as to the nature and sequence of its defences, the numerous linear earthworks in its vicinity, and of the domestic settlement contained within its ramparts.
The earliest phase is probably represented by a half oval summit area which was defended by a pair of ramparts and intermediate ditch. This enclosure measures 120m by 60m, and has always been entered from the east and from the south-west. It was later reduced to corresponding dimensions of 95m and 35m upon the construction of a drystone wall in place of the inner rampart; the nine circular house stances visible in the interior are probably contemporary with this phase. Two outer annexes to the south of the fort are enclosed by a system of banks and medial ditches, the outer banks being more pronounced. No credence is now given to the belief that this outer perimeter may have been a Roman siegework.
Hollow-ways run south and east from these outworks, and part of a third linear earthwork survives just to the west of the fort. These form part of an extensive system of/trenches' recorded in 1896; many appear to have been old tracks and are now absorbed within forestry plantation.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
