Note

Date 19 January 2016 - 21 October 2016

Event ID 1045157

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045157

Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

This fort is situated above the farm on the tip of the SE spur of Addinston Hill, dropping down gently from its W end which is set across the crest of the spur. Flattened along its NE flank, where it has been tailored to the underlying topography, it forms an irregular oval on plan and measures about 82m from NW to SE by 50m transversely (0.31ha) within one of the most impressive defences to be found anywhere in the Border counties. Comprising twin ramparts with external ditches, the outer flanked by a counterscarp bank surviving only in the S sector on the downslope side, they not only form a belt some 33m deep, but the inner rampart and ditch have been constructed on a massive scale, particularly where they cut across the crest of the spur on the NW; in this sector the ditch is in excess of 10m in breadth. While the ramparts and ditches have all the appearance of an unitary scheme, an unusual berm formed between the outer lip of the inner ditch and the outer rampart in the southern sector suggests that in its present form either the outer ramparts and ditch are an eccentric addition to the inner circuit, or possibly a more extensive reconstruction of the inner rampart within an earlier fort, reducing the interior at the SE end. A causeway across the inner ditch marks the position of an entrance at the SE end, but it is unclear whether such feature exists at a second gap in the ramparts on the SW. A ring-bank within the NW end of the interior is likely to be the remains of an old sheepfold, but there are traces of the backs of at least three circular platforms cut into the slope on the SW.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 21 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4009