Note
Date 19 January 2016 - 30 May 2016
Event ID 1045148
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045148
This fort stands on the rounded summit of Tollis Hill and though the ground falls away steeply to the Kelphope Burn on the W, it easily accessible from elsewhere. Nearly circular on plan, it measures about 100m in diameter from NE to SW by 95m transversely (0.72ha) within a rampart standing up to 3.5m in height above the bottom of its flanking ditch. A low counterscarp rampart can be seen around the NW half of the circuit and at a well preserved entrance on the W it returns around the terminals of the ditch to unite with the inner rampart; possible traces of a similar feature can also be seen at the entrance on the N, but in the opinion of Alexander Curle, who visited in 1908, James Hewat Craw, who drew up a plan about 1912 (RCAHMS 1909, 40, no.196; 1915, 119, no.223, fig 111), the gaps on the E and S had probably been broken through relatively recently. What may be a circular sheepfold lies on the N side of the interior, while scattered elsewhere are traces of four amorphous sunken areas up to 1m in depth and several adjacent circular stone-founded structures that are probably the remains of round-houses. Though the OS surveyor who visited in 1963 suggested these scoops may be no more than quarries, the presence of the round-houses implies that they are associated courts and yards.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 30 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4011
