Archaeology Notes

Event ID 708698

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/708698

NT00SE 5 0657 0209

(NT 0657 0209) Camp (NR)

OS 6" map (1957).

For unenclosed settlement (adjacent to S), see NT00SE 34.

The fort on the summit of Beattock Hill consists of a massive, but now ruinous stone wall, enclosing an oval area 213 ft (64.9m) N-S by 100' (30.5m) transversely. Towards the N end, an oval flat-topped rock outcrop has formed a citadel, at the base of which, on SE, there is a trench-like hollow, probably natural. The entrance, in the S, is protected by a length of rampart or wall with an external quarry ditch, and another covers the N end. Much wall debris litters the slopes.

RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912; R W Feachem 1963.

An oval bivallate fort with an internal quarry ditch on the SE, measuring internally 72.0m N-S by 30.5m within the remains of a stone wall up to 3.5m wide, where double-faced. The outer ditch has been constructed around the base of the hill on the E, but on the W steep slopes provide adequate defence. The entrance is on the SW. The fort interior has been sub-divided on the NE by a secondary rock-cut ditch which cuts through the rampart on the E and encloses an area about 42.0m N-S by 18.5m. Possible house sites were noted in the southern part of the interior.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (D W R) 18 September 1973.

No change to previous field report.

Visited by OS (T R G) 22 September 1978.

Scheduled (with NT00SE 34) as 'Beattock Hill, fort and unenclosed settlement 935m W of Braeside...'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 26 March 2011.