Northshield Rings

RCAHMS surveyed the fort at Northshield Rings on 21 April 1959 with plane-table and alidade. The plan was later redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1967, fig. 124).

NT24NE 1 2572 4934. Fort, Northshield Rings: On level ground 1/2 mile NE of Portmore House, there is a fort, measuring internally 240' by 210', in which two constructional phases can be discerned. The defences of the first phase consist of a rampart (IA) and an external ditch which has a low counterscarp bank (IB) on its outer lip on the N and W. At the present time the rampart stands to a maximum height of 1'6" above the interior and to 5' above the bottom of the ditch. There are 3 entrances, in the NE, SW, and SE sides respectively. At the first two, the gap in rampart IA measures 7' in width and the causeway across the ditch 12'. At the third, on the SE, the gap in the rampart is 50' in width and the causeway, 6'.

The defences of the second phase comprise two ramparts (IIA, IIB) with external quarry-ditches, the outermost ditch exhibiting traces of a counterscarp bank (IIC). The chronological relationship between the two structural phases is established on the W, where rampart IIA overlies a sector of the counterscarp bank IB.

There are 3 entrances in the later defences, one each on the NE and SW in line with the entrances to the earlier work, and a third, on the SSE, which is located 20 yds W of the corresponding causeway across the earlier ditch. These later entrances are funnel-shaped on plan, the passages widening from narrow gaps in rampart IIA to broad causeways across the outermost ditch. At the SW entrance, however, the gap in rampart IIB and the causeway are disproportionately wide, which may indicate that this entrance was never finished. The untidy appearance of the outer rampart (IIB), which was presumably constructed from material thrown up from both quarry-ditches, also suggests that the fortifications of the second phase were abandoned before completion. Thus the material from the ditches remains in two separate heaps for a distance of 110' on the W side, while elsewhere the profile of the rampart is irregular, varying considerably in height and in the width of the crest.

The interior of the fort was covered in tall heather on the date of visit, and no traces of dwellings could be seen.

(Information from R W Feachem 1954, 4)

RCAHMS 1967, visited 1959

Photographed by RCAHMS in 1980.

Photographed by RCAHMS in 1982.

Photographed by RCAHMS in 1985.

Photographed by RCAHMS in 1997.

Photographed by RCAHMS in 2005.

Photographed by RCAHMS in 2007.

This fort stands on the summit of a rounded hill between Portmore House and Portmore Loch, and having been under trees since the early 19th century is remarkably well preserved, presenting an impressive array of low ramparts and ditches. The defences almost certainly represent at least two periods of construction, but whereas RCAHMS investigators in 1959 opted to see the innermost enclosure as the earlier, subsequently enhanced by the addition of no fewer than three ramparts and intermediate ditches, the reverse is far more likely to be the case; the relationship hinges on the stratigraphy on the W, but this relationship is not clear-cut in the way that it appears upon their plan (RCAHMS 1967, 136-7, no.309, fig 124). The innermost enclosure is oval on plan, measuring 73m from NNW to SSE by 64m transversely (0.35ha) within a rampart that rises no more than 0.5m above the interior and 1.5m above the external ditch; the ditch is some 3m in breadth and accompanied around the NW half of the circuit by a low counterscarp bank, and it is this that is supposedly overlain on the W by the inner rampart of the outer defences. Elsewhere the the space between them forms a strip up to 8m wide, which is a curious feature if the intention had been to add a deep belt of multivallate defences. More likely these latter, which are altogether more substantial than the inner enclosure, are the earlier, forming a belt up to 20m deep and enclosing an area measuring about 100m by 85m transversely (0.6ha). The defences are pierced by entrances at three places, on the NE, S and SW respectively, and at each the gap between the terminal of the ramparts and ditches narrows towards the interior. Each of the entrances has also served the inner enclosure, though this inner entrance is offset to one side of the gap in the outer ramparts, on the NE and SW only slightly, but on the S in gross degree, creating a deep dogleg in the approach. The defences and interior are usually clothed in deep heather, but when the OS revised the 1:2500 depiction in 1971 the vegetation had been burnt off, revealing seven shallow depressions between 6m and 9m in diameter within the inner enclosure, which may mark the stances of timber round-houses.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 24 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3661

Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.

Information from Scottish Borders Council