Archaeology Notes

Event ID 721361

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/721361

NT71NE 43 767 166.

(NT 7668 1662) Fort (NR)

OS 6" map, (1958).

This fort occupies the summit of Chatto Craig (1024ft OD), a rocky hillock. The fortifications comprise a small citadel on the summit of the knoll, and an outer enclosure, defended by double ramparts on the S and by a single rampart elsewhere. (See RCAHMS 1956 plan, fig.191). The citadel is oval on plan and measures internally 155ft (47.3m) from N to S by 105ft (32m) transversely within a single rampart of boulder-faced rubble 11ft (3.35m) thick, with an entrance on the NW. No trace of this wall remains on the NE, and elsewhere it is only represented by occasional facing-stones. No internal structures are visible. The approach to the entrance is flanked on either side by the remains of a thin wall which extends for 21ft (6.4m) from the outer face of the rampart and at right angles to it. The purpose of these walls is obscure, but their slight construction suggests that they may be secondary.

Except on the S side, the main wall of the outer enclosure is set on the margin of a terrace. Like the citadel wall it was made of stone-faced rubble and was probably between 10ft (3m) and 12ft (3.66m) thick, but only fragments of the core and intermittent outer facing stones are now visible. On the S side, where it crosses rock outcrops, it is reinforced by a loop-rampart of similar construction and in a similar condition.

The entrance to the enclosure is on the NW, opposite the citadel entrance and linked to it by a hollow track. There are no traces of buidings within the enclosure, but between the two entrances, on either side of the track, there is a large garth bounded by the remains of the stone-faced rubble walls about 6ft (1.83m) thick. The one on the N side of the track is certainly later than the fort as its NW wall over-rides the ruins of the enclosure wall and the latter has been breached at the NNW apex to give access to the garth. The only internal feature is a shallow and roughly circular scoop about 20ft (6.1m) in diameter. The garth on the S side of the track is less well defined and there is no evidence to show its relationship to the fort. An ancient field-fyke (shown on plan), consisting of a core of boulders capped with earth, lies on the hill-slope below the S and SW sides of the fort. It may be contemporary with the occupation of the fort.

No relics have been found by which the fort could be dated, but certain features, notably the small oval citadel and the technique of utilising rock outcrops as integral parts of the defensive system, suggest a Dark Age rather than an Iron Age date.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1948.

This fort is generally as described and planned by the RCAHMS.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (JRL) 25 October 1979.

The fort and surrounding area is visible on vertical air photographs, (OS 68/024/66-7, 83-4, flown 8 April 1968).

Information from RCAHMS, 1997