Mitchelhill Rings
Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Fort (Prehistoric), Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Mitchelhill Rings
Classification Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Fort (Prehistoric), Settlement (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 48711
Site Number NT03SE 14
NGR NT 0628 3417
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/48711
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Broughton, Glenholm And Kilbucho
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Tweeddale
- Former County Peebles-shire
NT03SE 14 0628 3417.
(NT 0628 3417) Mitchelhill Rings (NAT) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, (1967).
On a small rocky spur at the E end of White Hill is a roughly circular fort measuring internally 175' by 160', with a secondary settlement inside it. Except on the saddle, material for the inner rampart (IA on plan - see RCAHMS 1967, fig.120) of the fort was obtained from a quarry-ditch running round the base of the spur; an unsuccessful attempt to carry the ditch through the rocky saddle is revealed by a short, shallow stretch which diverges from the true line before fading out. For more than half its length, rampart IA appears as a grass-covered, stony bank, standing about 1' in height above the interior and 11' above the bottom of the ditch, but the rest has been entirely removed by stone-robbing. A single outer facing-stone which survives on the NNW suggests that the rampart was of boulder-faced rubble construction.
A second rampart (IB) extends for 200' along the lip of the quarry-ditch on the S and SW, but the principal outer defence is the rampart IC which is accompanied on the W and NW by an external quarry-ditch. On the W and E, IC is situated immediately outside the quarry-ditch of IA, but on the S it lies as much as 15' outside IB, and on the N it crosses the saddle at a maximum distance of 30' from IA. The entrance, measuring 10' in width, is on the SE.
The settlement inside the fort measures 120' by 110' within a wall (II) which is now reduced to a low band of stones about 10' in breadth. The entrance, on the SE, is aligned with the fort entrance. The interior of the settlement is stony and uneven, and although it is reasonable to suppose that it originally contained circular stone-walled houses, no definite outlines can now be traced. The wasted condition of the remains presumably results from extensive stone-robbing for building material.
RCAHMS 1967, visited 1957; D Christison 1887.
A fort and settlement, generally as described by RCAHMS.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS(WJ) 13 March 1964 and (DWR) 11 August 1972.
Fort, Settlement and Cultivation Remains, Mitchelhill Rings: Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1980.
RCAHMS AP catalogue 1980.
Scheduled as Mitchelhill Rings, fort and settlement.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 4 March 2002.
Measured Survey (19 February 2002 - 28 March 2002)
This survey was undertaken to document an unusual large enclosure, possibly defined by a palisade, noted from aerial photographs. The enclosure and surrounding area was surveyed by RCAHMS using GPS at a scale of 1:2500. Visited by Dave Cowley, Strat Halliday, Alex Hale, Ian Parker and Julie Candy [19th, 20th, 21st February and March 28th 2002].
Note (1 October 2015 - 20 October 2016)
This fort lies on the E spur of White Hill, where it turns eastwards to descend gradually down towards the old steading of Mitchelhill. Roughly circular on plan, it measures about 50m in diameter (0.22ha) within the innermost of up to three ramparts, though most of the interior is occupied by a later enclosure measuring 36m in diameter within a low band of rubble. Reduced to a low bank around the greater part of the circuit, and elsewhere to a scarp, the innermost rampart of the defences rises no more than 0.3m above the surface of the interior, but externally it stands over 3m above the bottom of its accompanying ditch. In some places a counterscarp rampart bank can be traced along the outer lip of the ditch, and there is a strong impression from the plan drawn up by RCAHMS investigators in 1957 that these inner defences have been inserted into the interior of a larger enclosure, now represented by the outermost rampart and its ditch. The latter line picks up on the W side of the entrance on the SE and extends concentrically round the W flank only to diverge on a wider arc on the NW and return to meet the counterscarp rampart of the inner defences on the N. The sequence cannot be demonstrated stratigraphically without excavation, but if correct the outer enclosure would have taken in an area of about 0.35ha. Apart from the settlement enclosure, the interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3546
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
