Note
Date 6 August 2015 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1045036
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045036
This fort occupies a rocky hillock on the spur descending to the SE of Mabonlaw. Apparently rectangular on plan, partly reflecting the topography of the underlying hillock, it measures about 54m from NE to SW by 28m transversely within a rampart which can be traced most of the way round the margins of the hillock, only disappearing for a short sector on the SE. Traces of a rock-cut cut ditch cuts across the crest of the hillock immediately outside the rampart at the NE end, but on the SW they are separated by a berm some 3.5m wide, outside which the ditch is some 5m in breadth by 1.8m in depth. This unusual feature is particularly noticeable on the SE side of the entrance that pierces the middle of this end, but there must be some doubt as to whether the ditch, which has the appearance of a small quarry and is not matched on the other side of the entrance, is truly associated with the rampart. Indeed, the presence of an outer ditch on the SW, extending along the SE flank of the hillock as a terrace and returning across its spine beneath later rigs 20m further to the NE raises several questions about the sequence of fortification here and the character of the innermost enclosure, which is possibly a rectilinear settlement inserted into the interior of an earlier fort. The enclosure formed by the outer ditch, which has been heavily ploughed-down, is oval on plan and measures about 105m in length from NE to SW and may have enclosed as much as 0.35ha.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3267
