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Field Visit
Date 3 March 1993
Event ID 546037
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/546037
On Gibb's Hill detailed field survey has revealed a palimpsest of intercutting palisade trenches representing at least five separate perimeters, and possibly six. The sequence of construction is revealed by the banks of upcast that accompany each palisade trench, for these either infill, or are cut by, intersecting trenches. The earliest palisade on Gibb's Hill probably enclosed a relatively small area (0.8ha) centred towards the SE side of the site, but its course can only be followed with difficulty. This was succeeded by a larger enclosure, which is marked by a single palisade trench on the NE and the SW; on the SE the line of the trench has evidently been incorporated into the larger of the double palisades (III) that succeeded it, while on the NW, where a shallow saddle provides the easiest line of approach to the hill, the line of the palisade is taken up by a low rampart with an external ditch. The well-formed terminal of this rampart on the W appears to mark one side of an entrance through the palisade, and it is likely that they represent two complementary elements in one defensive scheme. The large double-palisaded enclosure (III) that was subsequently constructed lies eccentrically across this earlier enclosure, and its entrance is on the SE, where the palisades return around the low medial bank to form hairpin terminals. In its turn, the large double-palisade was superseded by a smaller double-palisaded perimeter (IV) enclosing 0.11ha. Its entrance, again with hairpin terminals, is also on the SE, but set further back up the slope. While the general sequence between the two double palisades is reasonably well established, the configuration of the palisade trenches on the SW is immensely complicated. Detailed examination on the ground suggests that both the inner and outer palisade trenches of the later double may have been re-cut at different periods, thus representing two subsequent periods of enclosure on the site. Given that the row of three round-houses along the W side of the settlement overlies the line of the inner of these two palisade trenches, it is likely that the outer represents the latest period of enclosure on the hill-top (VI). Numerous traces of round-houses are visible within the settlement, but it is almost impossible to disentangle their sequence of construction. The three described above, each comprising a circular platform measuring between 9m and 10m in diameter within a concentric external bank are evidently the latest, but they are set very close together, and even these may be the result of successive construction. The unenclosed round-houses in the saddle to the west appear to overlie the ditch of the phase II defences, but there is no evidence to show at what point in the subsequent sequence of structures they were constructed.
Visited by RCAHMS (SPH), 3 March 1993
Listed as palisaded settlements and timber round-houses.
RCAHMS 1997.
