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Field Visit
Date 15 July 1913
Event ID 1115285
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1115285
Fort, Corsehope Rings, Mid Hill.
Some 700 yards south-east. of Borthwick Hall, on the grassy summit of Mid Hill, at an elevation of 1300 feet above sea-level, is a fine fort, oval in outline, surrounded by concentric ramparts of earth. Towards the ends the approach is easy, but on the north-western and south-eastern flanks the ground falls in a steep descent. The main axis runs north-east and south-west, and the enceinte measures some 420 feet in length by 268 feet at most in breadth. Four concentric ramparts surround the fort, and there has been a fifth on the north-western flank, where the distance between their crests, measuring from the inner rampart, is 20 feet, 25 feet, 32 feet, and 15 feet respectively. The crest of the inner rampart at the same place is 12 feet higher than the base of the outer one; on the opposite flank the corresponding rise is 17 feet at one point. A section through the defences on the northwestern side shows the inner rampart to be 15 feet wide and to rise 2 feet above the interior and 3 feet above the bottom of a ditch outside, which is 9 feet wide and 1 foot deep on the counterscarp. A platform, 8 feet wide, lies between the ditch and the second rampart, which is 15 feet broad at base, 2 feet in height above the platform, and 4 ½ feet above a ditch outside measuring 6 feet in width and 1 foot in depth on the counterscarp. A similar platform is interposed between the second ditch and the third rampart, which is 13 feet broad and rises 2 feet on the inside and 5 feet above a third ditch, 6 feet wide and 1 ½ feet deep on the counterscarp. Another platform 12 feet wide lies between this last ditch and the fourth rampart, which, rising 1 foot on the inside and 4 feet on the outside, is 10 feet in breadth at the base, while some6 feet beyond are indications of the fifth rampart. Towards the east, on the opposite flank, the ditch and platform appear only between the third and fourth ramparts and for a short length between the second and third.
There are three entrances to the fort, two through the south-western and north-eastern ends and one slightly east. of the centre of the south-eastern flank. The south-western entrance, some 14 feet broad, is carried almost straight through the defences, but the other two are rather more elaborate. The south-eastern entrance,18 feet broad, curves so that the opening in one rampart is partly covered by the next inner rampart. The north-eastern entrance, 12 to15 feet wide, is even more complicated. It cuts obliquely through the defences, while the second rampart from the interior, on both sides of the entrance, and the outer rampart on the northern side only of the entrance re curve outwards. Between the second and third ramparts two slight ramparts, 4 feet broad, 1 foot high and 4 feet apart, run southwards from the entrance, the outer for a distance of some 20 yards and the inner for some 30 yards. In the interior of the fort are faint traces of a number of dug-out hollows of indeterminate character. These are not shown on the plan.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 15 July 1913.
OS map: xxi S.W.
