Archaeology Notes

Event ID 710437

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/710437

NT14NW 9 1245 4575.

(NT 1245 4575) Camp (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

Fort. On the summit of Blyth Hill there is a multivallate fort measuring internally 230' by 130'. The site is protected on the NW, SW and SE by long slopes falling steeply to the Tarth Water, but is easily approached from the NE across the saddle that links Blyth Hill with Blyth Bank Hill.

Except on the SE, the fort was defended by four ramparts, all of which have been severely mutilated by tree-planting. The inner pair (A, B) are best preserved on the N, where they appear as low stony banks about 2' high, separated by a medial ditch. Slight traces of the ditch also exist on the W, but there is nothing to indicate that it ever continued all round. The outer pair of ramparts (C, D) are likewise separated on the N by a medial ditch, but no traces of this occur elsewhere. Rampart C, which is particularly ruinous, is represented for the most part by a mere scarp, while rampart D appears in the main as a low stony bank. On the W and S, where the ground falls more steeply than elsewhere, a terrace (T) has been cut to receive rampart C. The three entances to the fort all appear to be original, the extension of the inner lip of the ditch between ramparts C and D into the NE entrance-passage being due to comparatively recent ploughing. The only feature in the interior is a sinuous quarried scarp just inside the NW entrance.

The slight remains of a linear earthwork cross the saddle from NW to SE at a distance of 110 yds NE of the fort. They can now be traced for 300' through ground corrugated with rigs and furrows, but are tolerably preserved only towards the NW end, where they consist of a low bank with a shallow ditch to the NE, each measuring about 11' in width. (Information from R W Feachem notebook 1959, 104)

RCAHMS 1967, visited 1959

Generally as described, though the entrance in the south is now too mutilated to be identified as original and the alleged linear earthwork to the north is part of a modern system of field banks. Between the fort and this bank is a circular turf enclosure which is probably a sheepfold.

RCAHMS plan revised 1/2500.

Visited by OS (IA) 28 September 1972

The fort and cultivation remains are visible on large scale vertical air photographs (OS 71/395/056, flown 1971).

Information from RCAHMS