Field Visit
Date May 1998
Event ID 1130054
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1130054
Hermitage Castle has two main phases, one comprising an earthwork, and the other the stone castle, but there are some plantation banks and stock enclosures overlying the outer earthworks. The stone castle was re-mapped but not recorded on this occasion.
The earthwork castle is situated on the edge of the river-terrace on the N bank of the Hermitage Water, occupying the space between two natural water-courses that empty into the Hermitage Water. The earthwork comprises a large polygonal enclosure, measuring about 75m from E to W by about 45m within a massive ditch about 17.5m in breadth by 4.5m in depth. A substantial part of the area enclosed, however, must have been occupied by a rampart, which is still extant on the W and part of the S, and measures about 12m in thickness by about 3.5m in height. The ditch displays traces of having been revetted with stone in places, but this may belong to the stone phase. On the S the rampart has been levelled and the ditch filled to make a level court in front of the entrance to the stone castle. This modification to the earlier defences must be at least partly medieval in date, if only to provide the space needed for the construction of the stone castle, but some caution about the present form the earthworks is required. The castle was cleared of rubble and restored in the late 19th century and other alterations may have taken place at that time. n engraving of 1815 shows the sides of the stone castle heaped up with overgrown debris (NMRS RXD/233/19). The only evidence for an original entrance is a stone plinth or abutment on the outer lip of the ditch at the NE corner (NY 4970 96090), but this could belong to the stone castle. The present causeway across the W ditch, which is depicted on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Roxburghshire 1863, sheet xlii), is probably not original, but a causeway shown across the N ditch to the 'outer court' at the same corner has since been removed.
Probably coeval with the earthwork castle is the substantial outwork that runs between the two watercourses to the N of the Castle. This outwork runs from W to E, diverting the flow of the westerly of the two burns to the E and from thence via a further manmade cutting 150m long, to ensure that the two burns empty into the river 120m E of the castle. The main cutting is 20m wide with an upcast bank that matches that of the castle rampart in scale, but the bank is irregular in both plan and profile, broad at the W end and tapering towards the E. There is also some dumping of spoil on the N of the cutting. Confirmation of this interpretation as a water-management system is the lack of any enclosing ramparts down the sides of the so-called 'outer-court', as it is referred to in previous descriptions of the castle. Apart form the upcast from the main cutting, all the other features in the vicinity are secondary banks that override the outwork or the castle earthworks. These comprise a system of banks enclosing narrow strips of ground on three sides of the castle, which has been interpreted as plantation banks, and a related system of banks that define two phases of enclosure in the space between the outwork and the castle.
(LID96 51)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) May 1998
