Note

Date 11 December 2015 - 20 October 2016

Event ID 1045172

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045172

Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

A complex fort stands on the hill above Kidlaw steading, occupying the hillock that forms the local summit at the NW end of the spur dropping down from Highside Hill. The defences of the fort display evidence of a complex evolution and several periods of remodelling, in the final phase comprising between two and three ramparts with external ditches enclosing a roughly circular area measuring about 114m from N to S by 110m transversely (0.9ha), with at least one entrance on the W and possibly a second on the E; the W entrance is notable for the staggered terminals of the inner rampart, which expose the visitor's right side, though this may in part be the result of the remodelling of earlier defences. Nevertheless, from this entrance round the SW quarter to a shallow re-entrant on the S, the defences comprise three ramparts with external ditches, while elsewhere there are only two visible, forming impressive external scarps with very little trace of the ditches that must have been dug into the slopes below them. The re-entrant, however, is a curious feature that suggests the realignment of earlier defences in this sector, perhaps including the blocking of an entrance, and it is probably no coincidence that what appears to be an earlier rampart reduced to a scarp can be traced on the ground between the two ramparts forming the SE sector of the latest fort as far as the E entrance. Projected westwards the arc of this earlier rampart appears to turn under the inner rampart and is picked up by a low scarp within the interior that might otherwise be interpreted as the rear of an internal quarry scoop, albeit one lying eccentrically to the inner rampart. Unfortunately the interior has been cultivated in shallow rigs in at least two directions, which has obscured several other earlier features, but traces of two more ramparts extend in an arc across its centre, enclosing the W side of the higher eastern half and clearly predating the inner rampart drawn around the E side; this earlier fort encloses an area measuring about 85m from N to S by 65m transversely (0.43ha). In addition a groove visible some 7m behind the inner rampart on the NW seems rather more substantial than the cultivation furrows and may be the remains of a palisade trench. While the full sequence here cannot be resolved without excavation, the final phase of occupation evidently post-dates the defences, comprising three small enclosures with stone-founded round-houses set on the margins of the interior on the ENE, ESE and WNW respectively, the last two incorporating the inner rampart into the perimeters of their yards.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3864