Archaeology Notes

Event ID 716569

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/716569

NT42SE 9 4820 2194.

Fort and Enclosure, Campknowe Plantation. On a broad rocky ridge at a height of 900ft OD, 700 yds SW of Synton House, there are the fragmentary remains of a fort and of a later enclosure which has been built inside the fort.

The fort was evidently of the "ridge" type which is well represented in the adjoining district of Roxburghshire, but only a portion of the

SW end, at present situated within a felled plantation, has escaped destruction by cultivation. The surviving defences (I on RCAHMS plan) consist of a rampart and an external rock-cut ditch which cross the main axis of the ridge from NW to SE; the rampart, which is formed of upcast and shows no signs of stonework, stands to a height of 8ft 3 in. above the bottom of the ditch, while the ditch has an effective width of about 30ft and is 5ft in depth. On reaching the NW side of the ridge the ditch descends the slope obliquely for 70ft before it dies out, while the rampart returns at right angles along the margin of the summit area where a disconnected length of 145ft is still preserved. On the opposite (SE) side of the ridge both defences have been destroyed by a field wall a short distance from the lip of the slope, and although the rampart no doubt followed the margin of the ridge-top on this side also, no trace of it can now be seen. Within the fort there are the remains of a secondary enclosure which is an incomplete oval on plan. It is formed by a fragmentary earthen bank (II) wasted and spread to a maximum width of 18ft; the inner face is nowhere more than a few inches in height, but the outer face stands to as much as 5ft 6 in. above the present ground surface.

RCAHMS 1957, visited 1950

Centred NT 4820 2194 As described by RCAHMS.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 26 April 1965

The remains of this fort are situated at the NE end of a rocky ridge and are now under pasture, all the trees referred to in earlier accounts having been removed some years ago. The site is generally as described, but the inner earthwork may be the remains of a settlement, rather than simply an enclosure.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS/IMS) 9 September 1993.