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Field Visit
Date 7 October 1908
Event ID 1088474
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088474
171. Promontory Fort,’Blackcastle Rings’.
This fort (fig. 90) is situated 1 ¾ miles north-west of Greenlaw (by Greenlaw Dean), above the left bank of the Blackadder, a short ‘distance below its junction with the Fangrist Burn, and 679 feet above sea-level. The enclosure occupies the summit of an angular spit, and is formed by two concentric curved lines of defence drawn across its base, consisting of (a) an inner rampart some 6 feet high to the inside, (b) a trench at most some 14 feet deep and 34 feet across, (c) a level space 35 feet broad, (d) a second rampart 3 feet high on the inner side and 6 to 7 feet on the outside, and (e) a ditch some 28 to 30 feet across, with a low mound on the top of the counterscarp. A slight outward curve of the outer rampart at the north end may indicate the position of the entrance at that spot. The ramparts are apparently of earth. The broad end of the interior measures about 220 feet, and the sides somewhat less. A short distance out from the north end of the defences a track leads down a slope towards the junction of the Blackadder with the Fangrist Burn.
See Antiquaries, xxix. p. 148 (plan and secs.); An Old Berwickshire Town (Gibson), p. 250; Christison, p. 133.
RCAHMS 1915, visited 7th October 1908.
OS Map: Ber, xxi. NE.
