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Camp Law Plantation
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Camp Law Plantation
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 51259
Site Number NT23NE 3
NGR NT 2692 3821
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/51259
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Peebles
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Tweeddale
- Former County Peebles-shire
NT23NE 3 2692 3821.
(NT 2692 3821) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1965)
Fort, Camp Law Plantation. This fort is situated a little over half a mile SE of Whitehaugh farm and at a height of 1000' OD. The site has been under the plough, and subsequently planted with trees which have now been felled, and as a result the defences are in a fragmentary condition.
They have consisted of four ramparts, but only the inner one (A) can now be traced for its entire circuit. Enclosing an area measuring 200' by 160', it appears at best as a low stony bank, but for the most part it is a mere scarp 2' in greatest height; there is no sign of a ditch. There are two entrances, situated on the WNW and SSE sides respectively, the former being 7' in width and the latter 9'. Apart from a wasted plantation-bank lying just inside rampart A, the interior is featureless. Very little now remains of ramparts B, C and D; on the SW, however, where they are best preserved, they stand respectively to heights of 6', 4' 6", and 2' externally. The earth and rubble of which they are made were probably obtained from accompanying quarry-ditches, but the only visible sign of a ditch at the present time is on the NNE. The wide interval between ramparts A and B is an unusual feature, and may represent a cattle corral.
RCAHMS 1967, visited 1959
The remains of this fort are as described by RCAHMS. The SSE entrance can be seen to be crossed by the plantation bank. There are no internal features.
Revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 7 June 1971
Note (15 October 2015 - 18 October 2016)
This fort is situated on the summit of the spur at the foot of the N flank of Craig Head, and is separated from the main bulk of the hill on the S by a deep glacial outwash channel. Oval on plan, its defences comprise two elements, namely an inner enclosure bounded by a wall, and an outer enclosure with up to three ramparts. All, however, have been heavily reduced, partly by cultivation, but also by robbing, and it is difficult to trace the outer ramparts beyond short arcs on the SW and NE respectively. The inner enclosure measures internally about 60m from NE to SW by little more than 45m transversely (0.24ha), and its wall is not only heavily robbed but the spread of rubble is surmounted by an old plantation bank. There are gaps on the NW and SE respectively, but in it present state it is difficult to be certain that either is an original entrance. Within the interior, however, there are traces of a series of shallow ring-ditch houses that escaped the RCAHMS investigators who drew up a plan in 1959, but do appear faintly on oblique aerial photographs. The outer element, conceived by the investigators as a possible annexe to the inner enclosure, is more likely to be the remains of a free-standing scheme of defence taking in a much larger area measuring about 85m from NE to SW by 65m transversely. The character of its perimeter, however, is uncertain, for while there appear to have been three ramparts with intermediate ditches for a short distance on the SW, the outermost quickly disappears and the inner peters out on the W after a distance of no more than 40m, and reappearing only intermittently around the N and NE; on the line of the outer ramparts on the NE there is also what has been depicted as a ditch, but is conceivably no more than a later quarry pit. In all the outer circuit is unsatisfactory and it is unclear whether this is the result of subsequent destruction or because it was never completed.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3640
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
