Note
Date 25 January 2016 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1045234
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045234
What is probably a fort is situated on the knoll immediately N of the disused railway line on the W side of the bridge carrying the A6089 public road northwards out of the village of Gordon. Traces of the defences, which were traditionally held to be a seat of the 'ancestors of the Duke of Gordon' (NSA, ii, Berwickshire, 34), remained visible into 19th century, but their character has only been revealed more recently by cropmarks in the field to the W of what was formerly Bogle Plantation. These show two ditches forming the NW half of an oval enclosure measuring internally up to 120m from NNE to SSW by at least 35m transversely, and possibly as much as 50m on the basis of the projected circuit and the contours within the old plantation; making some allowance for an inner rampart the interior may have enclosed about 0.35ha. The ditches are most clearly defined at the SW end where the outer ditch turns sharply out to either side of the causeway and unites with a third ditch, which can be traced for a short distance to either side, apparently on a convergent line. There is no corresponding gap in the rather broader innermost ditch, but at this point any trace of its terminals are lost in a large, almost square, macula. An isolated linear mark outside the defences on the N does not seem to be part of the fort and may be no more than an old trackway climbing the slope and appearing intermittently across the field to the W. Several irregular maculae are visible within the interior but their precise character is uncertain. While the features of the entrance are unusual there is no compelling reason to identify them as castle works, and in any case the Gordon's may have reoccupied an earlier fortification.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4034
