Nisbet
Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Nisbet
Classification Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 48779
Site Number NT03SW 45
NGR NT 03540 32160
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/48779
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Culter
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
NT03SW 45 03540 32160.
(NT 0354 3216) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, (1962).
The remains of a fort in which two structural phases can be distinguished, are situated on a spur (305m OD) between the Culter Water and the Nisbet Burn.
In the earlier phase the defences comprised two ramparts (IA and IB, on RCAHMS 1978 plan, fig.61) and a medial ditch, which enclose an area measuring 77m by 50m. On the SW, where they are best preserved, each rampart rises 0.6m above the bottom of the ditch. Elsewhere, however, both ramparts have been much reduced or completely levelled, due to cultivation. The original entrance, 3m wide, is in the NE; the gap on the N is modern. The interior of the fort has been considerably disturbed by quarrying, and the three rectilinear foundations and the shallow quarry shown on plan (see RCAHMS 1978 plan) are all relatively recent.
The later phase is represented by rampart II, which has enclosed an area measuring about 61m by 37m. This is clearly later than the others as on the S the space between rampart II and the scarp representing the approximate position of rampart IA is so narrow that IA must have been virtually removed to allow rampart II to be built in its place. Rampart II now survives intermittently either as a stony bank up to 4.9m in thickness at the base and 1.2m in height, or as a mere scarp; a long stretch on the W side has been destroyed. There is a well-defined entrance on the NE, about 2m wide, in line with the entrance through the ramparts of the earlier phase.
RCAHMS 1978, visited 1970.
A fort, generally as described by the RCAHMS.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS(DWR) 18 July 1972.
Photographed by the RCAHM in 1980.
RCAHMS AP catalogue 1980.
Note (30 July 2015 - 18 October 2016)
This fort is situated on the summit of the north spur projecting from the lower slopes of the ridge known as Bracks Head. Its defences have been severely mauled by stone-robbing and cultivation, but enough remains visible to show that there are three ramparts, probably representing two periods of construction. The innermost, and probably the later, has been entirely obliterated on the NW but elsewhere forms a bank up to 4.9m in thickness by 1.2m in height, which appears to overlie the back of the middle rampart on the S. The interior is oval on plan, measuring about 61m from NNE to SSW by 40m transversely (0.19ha), and the entrance is on the NE, conforming to the entrance through the outer ramparts. These too are severely reduced, forming low banks and scarps that rise no more than 0.6m above the bottom of a medial ditch, and enclose an area measuring 77m from NNE to SSW by 50m transversely (0.33ha); a gap in the circuit on the N is probably relatively recent, as is the evidence of occupation in the interior, which comprises three rectangular foundations, at least two of them being the remains of buildings. The only other features visible in the interior are a shallow surface quarry and a raised area of outcrop.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3237
