Wester Dawyck
Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Wester Dawyck
Classification Settlement (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 49814
Site Number NT13NE 13
NGR NT 1547 3514
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/49814
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Drumelzier
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Tweeddale
- Former County Peebles-shire
NT13NE 13 1547 3514.
(NT 1547 3514) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, (1967).
The remains of this fort lie on a spur in a plantation 220 yds NW of Wester Dawyck. The defences have been mutilated by cultivation and quarrying before the trees were planted. Enough evidence remains to show that it was oval on plan, measuring 180' x 150' within double ramparts (A and B on RCAHMS 1967 plan, fig.140). Some slight traces of two other ramparts (C and D) exist on the S, but it is uncertain whether or not these continued round the other sides. the entrance on the NW side of the fort is probably original.
RCAHMS 1967, visited 1958; Information from R W Feachem notebook, 90.
A well-defined settlement situated on a low hill and as described above. There is a fir plantation occupying the whole interior and making a close examination impossible. The defences are stronger on the SW, the side of easiest approach, but elsewhere consist essentially of one good rampart. The situation is more characteristic of a settlement than a fort.
Visited by OS(JTT) 22 July 1974 and (BS) 2 December 1974.
Note (8 October 2015 - 20 October 2016)
This fort is situated in a small plantation on a hillock NW of Wester Dawyck. Oval on plan, internally it probably measures about 75m from NNE to SSW by 65m transversely (0.37ha), but most of the interior is occupied by what appears to be a late Iron Age settlement enclosure. Oval on plan, the interior of the latter measures about 55m from N to S by 45m transversely and has been scooped into the hillock on the S, while the bank on its lip and forming its perimeter on the N has been mistaken for the inner rampart of the fort (RCAHMS 1967, 146-8, no.326, fig 140). The defences of the fort probably lie outside this line, but have been mutilated by later cultivation, quarrying and the creation of the plantation. Nevertheless, the inner ramaprt survives around the E, S and W flanks, and is probably accompanied by an external ditch, though this is only visible in the plantation on the SSW. In the latter sector there is also a second rampart on the counterscarp, possibly with an external ditch, and immediately within the plantation dyke a third. Three breaks in the inner rampart on the E flank are probably relatively recent, but a fourth on the W may mark the position of the original entrance.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3575
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
