Archaeology Notes
Event ID 717229
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/717229
NT51NE 8 5803 1557.
(NT 5802 1550) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1938)
Forts and Site of Roman Signal-Station, Rubers Law. Rubers Law, on the borders of Cavers and Hobkirk parishes, is, after the Eildon Hills, the most conspicuous landmark in Roxburghshire. Rising to a height of 1392 ft. OD, it has a rugged and precipitous top composed of igneous rock largely bare of vegetation and much disintegrated, which has thrust its way through the strata of the Old Red Sandstone lying on the flanks of the hill. Being an isolated peak, it commands a magnificent prospect of the surrounding country as far as the Cheviot range on the S and E, the Eildons and Lammermuirs on the N, and the hills of Selkirkshire and Liddesdale on the W and SW.
The principal features of the hill-top are: the summit, which is bounded on all sides except the NE. by precipitous cliffs 40 ft. to 50 ft. high; two lower hog-backed rock ridges lying respectively NW and SE of the summit and separated from it by large canyon-like gullies; a crescentic-shaped plateau which opens out from the SE gully at the S end of the summit; and, some 50 ft. below the level of the plateau, a natural terrace which encloses the hill on all sides except the NE, where the more gently inclined slope is broken by a series of parallel ridges running at right angles to the contours. A distant view is given in Fig. 489.
The existence of fortifications on the hill-top was first observed by Dr A O Curle, who published a detailed paper on them (A O Curle 1905). They comprise:
(i) an inner enclosure or citadel occupying the main summit;
(ii) an annexe on the S side of the citadel which includes the plateau and the southernmost of the two hog-backed ridges;
(iii) two fragments of a wall near the base of the summit on the N and NE;
(iv) an outer wall built on the edge of the natural terrace on the N, W, and S sides of the hill, and returning at approximately the same level as the terrace across the broken ground on the NE.
The citadel, which is defended by a single wall (A) drawn round the margin of the top of the summit, is roughly pear-shaped on plan with maximum internal measurements of 235 ft. from NE to SW by 105 ft. transversely. Although the wall is now reduced to a low mound in which one or two facing-stones can be seen, and its thickness is uncertain, the mass of fallen material at the foot of the cliffs on the NW and SE sides clearly indicates that it was of stone construction throughout, the core being solidly packed with small stones and faced on both sides with boulders. A narrow cleft known as "Peden's Pulpit" which runs from the top to the bottom of the summit at the SW end is not a practicable approach, and the main access to the citadel was on the NE where there is a well-defined entrance, 8 ft. wide, in the enclosure wall. Another gap in the wall, on the S side, from which a path descends obliquely to the plateau below, may likewise represent an original entrance designed to provide direct communication between the citadel and the annexe.
The interior of the citadel consists of a grassy hollow lying NE and
SW and flanked by rocky outcrops. These outcrops are linked near their NE ends by a low mound at right angles to the hollow which was sectioned by Dr Curle in 1906 (A O Curle 1907) and was found to be composed of "loose stones heaped up to form a rampart." It was capped by a thick layer of soil containing only a few fragments of burnt bones, while fragments of unburnt bones were found in the bottom of the section. Other trenches dug at the same time in the hollow on the SW side of the mound and in a "well-defined hut-circle" (no longer visible) just inside the gap in the S side of the enclosure wall, produced no relics apart from scraps of charcoal and burnt bones, so that there can have been no lengthy occupation of the site. The annexe, which measures 300 ft. internally from NE to SW, is also enclosed by a single wall (B) similar in construction to that of the citadel. Starting at the base of the summit, 40 ft. N of Peden's Pulpit, the wall runs southwards in a gentle curve along the margin of the plateau: in this sector it is reduced to a stony mound not more than 18 in. high and retains only an occasional outer facing-stone. At the SE corner of the plateau the mound dies out, but the course of the wall can be traced north-eastwards by a crest-line along the outer foot of the ridge to the NE end, where the wall again appears running NW across the gully to the base of the rock face on the summit. In this latter sector the debris is several feet high and spread to a maximum width of 24 ft. The facing-stones, several of which appear to be in situ and indicate that the wall was some 12 ft. thick, measure up to 5 ft. in length and 2 ft. in breadth, while the core has again been formed entirely of smaller stones. At a distance of 14 ft. from the outer, or NE, side of this mass of debris, and running parallel to it, there is an irregular row of boulders set on end. The only visible entrance to the annexe is in the centre of the SW side at the head of a hollow track which climbs the hill obliquely from a point just inside the outermost rampart on the terrace. The interior contains no sign of structures.
The two wasted fragments of walling situated below the citadel on the N and NE sides, one of which (C) lies obliquely across a gully while the other (D) runs along the top of a low line of crags, doubtless represent the remains of contemporary outworks designed to protect the main entrance, which would otherwise be exposed to sudden attack from hostile forces assembled under cover of the rock outcrops on these sides.
As Dr Curle pointed out, a distinctive feature of the annexe and citadel walls is their abundant use of Roman dressed sandstone blocks in both core and face. These stones, over 30 of which were counted on the date of visit, are found so low down in the ruined walls that they must have been incorporated in these walls from the outset and not inserted during a subsequent reconstruction. There can therefore be no doubt that the native fortress represented by the citadel and annexe is of post-Roman date. In view of the unlimited amount of loose boulders and easily quarried rock outcrops available on the hill-top, the utilisation of Roman masonry can only be explained on the assumption that the structure from which it was obtained was situated within or adjacent to the area covered by the later fortress. And a Roman building in this position can only have been a signal-station. Roman relics found on the hill comprise: a "first brass" of Vespasian, the exact find-spot of which is not recorded (G Macdonald 1939); a hoard of bronze vessels found on the SE side, 400 ft. below the summit, in 1863 and now in the Hawick Museum; and two bronze coins, one of which is said to have been of Maximinus, found on the farm of Hallrule at the SE foot of the hill (A O Curle 1905).
In contrast to the fortifications already described, which use the rock outcrops as an integral part of the defensive line, the outermost wall (E) follows an even course round the hill at approximately the same level. This wall, which encloses an area of about 7 acres, has been of boulder-faced rubble construction but is so much ruined that it is difficult to follow in places and it is entirely lost for a distance of 350 ft. on the E side. There is a well-marked entrance on the S, approached by a hollow track, and two possible entrances on the N where the wall is interrupted by natural gullies. It is noteworthy that no Roman masonry is visible anywhere on the circuit or amongst the masses of stone that have fallen from it at certain points, particularly on the N side; and this fact, coupled with its position on the shoulder of the hill, might well suggest that it represented a fort or an oppidum of Early Iron Age date. On the other hand it is just possible that it is the wall of a cattle compound coeval with the Dark Age fortress. Two rectangular enclosures situated on the E flank of the hill, just outside the presumed line of wall E, are probably of comparatively recent origin. They were trenched by Dr Curle but produced no sign of occupation.
R C Bosanquet 1928; J Curle 1932; RCAHMS 1956, visited 1949.
"... Rubers Law (No 145), where the circumstances are not so clear but where a case can be made out for supposing that there was a large contour-fort, probably of rampart construction, enclosing the greater part of the hill, and that this was later occupied, in succession, by a Roman stone building on its summit, and a Dark Age 'nuclear' fort embracing the crags of its northern end."
RCAHMS 1956
Rubers Law belongs to the Dark Age 'nuclear' type of fortification.
J K St Joseph 1951
NT 58031557. As described and generally as planned by the RCAHMS. The bronze vessels found in 1863 are still at Hawick Museum, but the present location of the other finds was not ascertained.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (JTT) 5 April 1965
Photographed by the RCAHM 1980.
Two stones dressed with diamond broaching found on the summit of Rubers Law by A O Curle are in Wilton Lodge Museum, Hawick (HAKMG 4160).
Museum Catalogue 1981.
