Lady Mary's Wood

This fort, which stands on the crest of a ridge about 400 yards north-east of Walton Cottages, at anelevation of rather more than 250 feet above sea-level, is now much destroyed, particularly on the east side, where the defences have been almost entirely obliterated. The site is thinly planted with trees, and a portion of the enclosure is occupied by the vault of the Crawford family. The outline of the fort has apparently been defined by a scarp and seems to have been roughly oval or pear-shaped in form, the major axis lying north-east and south-west. The interior area has been defined on the west by a low glacis, below which it has been girt by two concentric ramparts. Owing to the steepness with which the ground rises, the top of the glacis is about 4 ½ feet higher than that of the inner rampart, while the top of the innet rampart is in turn 4 ½ feet higher than that of the outer one. There are also clear indications of a ditch outside, but the position of the entrance is uncertain, although it was probably at the north-west, as suggested on the plan. On the north, where only one line of rampart, probably the outer one, can now be clearly followed, there is a mound (which is possibly not original) at about the place where the inner rampart would be looked for. Overall, the fort measures about 420 by 375 feet.

"Many urns and bones," says the New Statistical Account, ix, p. 565, "have been dug up on and near this hill."

RCAHSMS 1933, visited 8 June 1925.

This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.

Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.

This fort occupies the crest of a spur that projects W from lower slopes of Walton Hill. Although directly overlooked by Walton Hill, the ground falls away steeply on the W, while a gully climbing the slope from the NW serves to separate the spur from the main bulk of the hill. The ramparts of the fort have been heavily reduced, and further damage has been caused by quarrying on the S flank and the insertion of a burial-vault for the Crawford family into the interior, but enough remains on the NW flank to show that its defences comprised three ramparts stepping down the slope in a belt about 22m deep. The innermost has been reduced to no more than a scarp, and an external ditch is visible accompanying the outermost. The size of the interior is difficult to estimate, but on the assumption that the defences were originally set out concentrically round the whole circuit, it measures about 85m from NE to SW by a minimum of 40m (0.3ha) and possibly as much 75m transversely (0.5ha); the depiction on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map, when the defences appear to have been more complete on the S, suggest the latter. There is a possible entrance through the outer defences on the NW, where the plan drawn up by RCAHMS investigators in 1925 shows the outer rampart turning slightly inwards to either side of the gap, but there is no equivalent gap in the innermost rampart. For what it is worth the map omits the gap in the outer defences on the NW, but appears to show an entrance on the S.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3141