Archaeology Notes

Event ID 726322

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/726322

NX18NE 4 1913 8843.

NX 1913 8843. There are vestigial remains of a pear-shaped fort, measuring 552ft ENE-WSW by 305ft defended by a double rampart with medial ditch, on the summit of Bargain Hill (visible on APs RAF/106G/UK172: 3155-6).

The inner rampart is still traceable on the WSW side in the form of a grassy bank 3.0m to 4.5m thick and 0.6m maximum height, but on the north and SE sides it is represented by only a low scarp while the ENE end has been entirely obliterated. Three boulders embedded in the base of the scarp on the SE side suggest that the rampart may have had an external kerb or revetting wall of stone, but no stonework is visible at any other point in the circuit. Faint indications of the ditch and outer rampart, too indefinite for accurate measurement, can be seen on the WSW side. APs show both elements on the SE side also, so that it can be assumed that they were originally continuous. A gap in the south arc of the inner rampart, 4.5m in width, presumably represents an original entrance, and it is possible that there was a second entrance at the ENE end.

Apart from a water-holding hollow, which may be artificial the interior is featureless (RCAHMS TS, 1 September 1954).

Visited by OS (JD) 12 October 1955

No change to report of OS (JD).

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (BS) 14 January 1976

The remains of this fort occupy the undulating and outcropping summit area of Bargain Hill at some 215m OD. Given that the N and NE sides of the fort were complete but have not survived, the minimum overall dimensions would be some 180m NE-SW by 110 transversely. The suggested outer rampart, visible only around the SW, appears to be no more than a low, upcast bank (0.3m high) from a shallow 2m to 3m wide medial ditch, possibly indicating that the present slight defences form just one phase of an unfinished work; there is little natural defence on the W and SW sides.

Visited by OS (JRL) 4 December 1980

(NX 1913 8843) Fort (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10000 map (1979)