Archaeology Notes

Event ID 722210

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/722210

NT86SW 3 8072 6051

(NT 8072 6051) Fort (NR) Ancient Track (NR) (Twice)

OS 6" map, Berwickshire, 2nd ed., (1908).

Fort and Settlement: This is a fort which has been re-used as an open settlement in the 2nd and succeeding centuries AD (R W Feachem 1963).

Visited by OS (JLD) 23 November 1954.

The fort, entirely overgrown, is oval on plan and measures 320ft by 255ft within twin stone ramparts and a medial ditch. The inner rampart stands from 3ft 8ins to 7ft above the interior and 8ft to 11ft above the bottom of the ditch. The elevation of the outer rampart is slight.

A sub-rectangular annexe adjoins the fort on the E. Several circular stone foundations and linear earthworks lie inside and outside the fort. The earthworks consist of a bank about 14ft wide and a ditch about 3ft wide and 4ft to 5ft deep. Dr Steer considers them to be old field banks.

Some 150 yds E of the three-sided bank and ditch NW of the fort, and 50 yds from the wood to the SE is a single depression 10ft in diameter and 1ft 9ins deep, resembling a hut circle.

Nine sherds of local Late Iron Age pottery were recovered from the roots of a fallen tree within the fort by Dr Steer in 1950(Dr K Steer RCAHMS), who donated them to the NMAS (Accession No: HH 559).

RCAHMS 1915; J H Craw 1928; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1952 (Donations).

The fort, settlement, and linear earthworks are generally as described by the previous authorities. The 'three-sided' bank and ditch NW of the fort appears to be too substantial for a field bank; its purpose, therefore, is uncertain.

The features shown as 'Ancient Tracks', however, are almost certainly field banks.

No trace of the hut circle mantioned above could be found.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 11 March 1966.

(NT 8072 6051) Fort and Settlement (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976).

This impressive fort, standing in dense undergrowth, is generally as described. The large annexe attached to its E side is presumably a subsequent development.

There is an extensive enclosure-system around the fort.

On the NW, NE and SW the fort is surrounded by three sides of a rectilinear earthwork (comprising two banks and a medial ditch), which encloses at least 8 hectares. From the W corner of the earthwork an irregular bank and ditch runs NW for 300m. Half-way along its course there is an entrance with staggered terminals, and to the N of the entrance the ditch is replaced by a series of quarry-pits. On the SW the rectilinear earthwork is approached by a linear earthwork, 100m of which has been preserved in a plantation (NT 804 604 to NT 802 601).

F Lynn 1897; RCAHMS 1915; RCAHMS 1980, visited 1979.

Excavation on this recently ploughed out site established that the line of the N-S bank and ditch predated the double rampart and ditch which surrounds the Marygoldhill plantation enclosure. This later ditch was found to be cut to a depth of 3m into the natural rock. Three circular 1m by 1m rock-cut pits and three sectors of the segmented rock-cut ditch which composed a continuous 30m length of the N-S monument were sectioned and excavated showing possible post-pipes within each of th e three pits.

P Strong 1984.

Scheduled [with NT86SW 4] as 'Marygold Plantation, forts 845m W and 730m NW of Marygold...'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 20 February 2009.