Note
Date 1956
Event ID 718658
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/718658
(i) MISCELLANEOUS EARTHWORKS: In the absence of excavation, over eighty earthworks in the county [Roxburgh] cannot by classified either because they do not conform to recognised types or because their plans are not sufficiently distinctive. A few of these, occupying commanding positions on hilltops or the crests of ridges, are unlikely to be later than the 11th century; such are Bonchester Hill (NT51SE 8), the group of earthworks on Whitcastle Hill (NT41SW 6), and five roughly D-shaped earthworks lying within a radius of two miles between the River Teviot and the Slitrig Water- Gray Hill 2 (NT40NE 13), Birny Knowe (NT40NE 12), Crom Rig (NT40NW 16), Dodburn (No.160, ii; NT40NE 7), and Pen Sike (NT40NE 8)- which are characterised by ramparts massive in proportion to their size. The majority, however, are situated on hillsides or in the bottoms of valleys, generally below the 800 ft contour, and are probably mediaeval. Most of these lower-lying structures, of which the outstanding examples are Timpendean (NT62SW 10), Iron Castle (NT61SW 7), and Scraesburgh (NT61NE 1), were evidently designed for habitation and presumably contained wooden buildings; but a few of the simpler earthworks such as Huntly Burn (No.51) may have been enclosures for stock.
RCAHMS 1956, 50
