Dechmont Law
Earthwork (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Dechmont Law
Classification Earthwork (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 49082
Site Number NT06NW 6
NGR NT 0338 6982
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/49082
- Council West Lothian
- Parish Livingston
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District West Lothian
- Former County West Lothian
NT06NW 6 0338 6982.
(NT 0338 6977) Earthwork (NR)
OS 25" map (1972)
Earthwork, Dechmont Law.
RCAHMS 1957
On Dechmont Law, a N-S ridge, are slight traces of a small earthwork, roughly rectangular on plan and measuring 38.0m N-S by 20m transversely. It consists of a ditch some 6.0m wide and 0.6m deep which crosses the N and S ends of the ridge and is reduced to a slight terrace running along the W face of the ridge a few feet below the shoulder. Quarrying has destroyed all traces of the ditch on the E. There are faint indications of a causeway crossing the ditch on the N. The interior is featureless. The situation of this work is typical of a fort but the remains are now slight and the absence of a rampart prevents a definite classification. (RCAHMS MS, 20 May 1954).
Visited by OS (JP) 18 March 1974
Field Visit (20 May 1954)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1958), an unpublished rescue project.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 typescripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
Reference (1957)
This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).
Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.
Note (30 October 2015 - 1 June 2016)
This small fortification is situated on the summit of Dechmont Law, which forms an elongated ridge aligned N and S, its steep flanks accentuated by the quarrying that has taken place along the E flank. Roughly rectangular on plan, it has measured about 36m from N to S by 20m transversely (0.07ha) within a ditch some 6m in breadth by up to 0.9m in depth, which cuts across the spine of the ridge at either end and forms a terrace extending along its W flank. There is no trace of a rampart on either lip of the ditch and the whole of the E side has been destroyed by quarrying, which has bitten back into this margin of the interior. A causeway across the ditch on the N marks the position of the entrance.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 01 June 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3687
