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Note
Date 2 January 2016 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1045248
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045248
This fort, which is situated on the NW shoulder of the rounded hill above Spott Mill, is heavily ploughed down, but the massive ramparts are still plainly visible, forming broad undulations in the surface of the field, and the ditches have produced strong cropmarks in numerous years of aerial reconnaissance. Roughly circular on plan, it measures 110m from NE to SW by 105m transversely (0.89ha) within two ramparts with external ditches. The gap between the inner ditch and the traces of an internal quarry scoop indicate that the that the inner rampart was in the order of 10m thick, while the inner and outer ditches are 10m and 7m broad respectively. Taken together the defences would have formed an impressive belt in excess of 40m deep, pierced by entrances on the NE, SE, WSW and NNW respectively. Of the latter, that on the NE is a simple gap, as may have been the SE entrance too, except that a tongue of ditch projecting from the S terminal of the outer ditch, which in itself is possibly evidence of a recut phase, closes down the outer gap to create an oblique approach exposing the visitor's right side. The entrance ways of the other two entrances are also angled to expose the visitors right side, but the gaps in the outer ditch have been elaborated in slightly different ways, on the NNW by doglegging the E terminal outwards in front of the inner gap, and on the WSW by turning the S terminal inwards, inside the line of the N terminal, thus creating an overlap. There are several maculae visible on the aerial photographs within the interior, but none resolves into a clear structure. More importantly, the presence of the internal quarry scoop and the massive broad spread of the inner rampart has almost certainly created relatively deep deposits of sediment, particularly in the S half of the interior, that are likely to preserve stratified evidence of occupation.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3913
