Note

Date 9 September 2015 - 3 August 2016

Event ID 1045264

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045264

Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

This fort is situated on Huntfold Hill, a steep-sided spur above the Yett Burn into which the ground gently shelves from the saddle between Whitestone Hill and Thorny Hill. on the NNE. The defences of the fort comprise two elements, namely a multivallate inner enclosure and an outer annexe, the latter apparently an addition. The inner enclosure is roughly oval on plan, measuring 63m from NNE to SSW by 58m transversely (0.27ha) within three stone-faced ramparts with external ditches, which form a clearly-defined belt 21m deep around the northern quarter. As they survive today, however, only the inner forms a complete enclosure, the outer ramparts petering out along the flanks, and while the medial rampart is probably represented by a scarp extending around the nose of the spur, the third rampart visible on this side probably belongs to the annexe defences. The latter are best defined on the NE, where they comprise twin ramparts with a medial ditch, but their lines can be traced along the E flank of the fort and they probably once formed a near continuous circuit. While there is no visible stratigraphical relationship between the defences of the fort and those of the annexe, on the NW the inner rampart of the annexe apparently diverts around the outermost rampart of the fort, but it should be noted that its perimeter in this sector has lost the coherence visible on the NE, the outer rampart with an internal ditch splaying to the W, and the inner flanked by discontinuous quarry ditches on either side for a short distance before it diverts. In short, an earlier perimeter, perhaps incomplete, may have been altered here, possibly creating a misleading impression of the relationship between the two. Including the fort, the overall area enclosed by the annexe defences is roughly oval and measures about 125m from NNE to SSW by 75m transversely (0.8ha), extending some 30m beyond the fort defences on the NNE to enclose a crescent-shaped space of about 0.22ha. The interior of the annexe is featureless, but within the fort, the eastern half of which is occupied by a later sheepfold, there are at least four stone-founded round-houses. There are two entrances, on the ESE and WNW respectively, though in 1947 RCAHMS investigators were reluctant to believe that the latter, which opens into a circular scooped court was original to the fort, and attributing it to a hypothetical later period of fortification; if not original, it is more likely to relate to the late Iron Age occupation represented by the stone-founded round-houses. The entrance on the ESE is approached from the E by a trackway through a gap in the annexe perimeter.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 03 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3414