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Torgeith Knowe

Earthwork (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Torgeith Knowe

Classification Earthwork (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 51761

Site Number NT26NW 19

NGR NT 233 676

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/51761

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Edinburgh, City Of
  • Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District City Of Edinburgh
  • Former County Midlothian

Archaeology Notes

NT26NW 19 233 676.

(NT 233 676) Earthwork, Torgeith Knowe. There is a slightly curved ditch running across the top of the ridge of Torgeith Knowe, c.80 yds. from its W end. It is 20-30' wide, but not more than 2' deep, and has a 10' wide causeway near its centre. There are no signs of any further defences, but it is probable that the ditch represents the E side of an earthwork whose other sides followed the margin of the summit area of the ridge, and have been since ploughed down. If this is so, the earthwork would originally have measured c. 250' E-W by 110' transversely.

RCAHMS TS, 12 April 1956

Torgeith Knowe is a spinal ridge affording little natural defence. A natural dip near the west end, which bears a superficial resemblance to a ditch, is probably the feature described by the RCAHMS.

Visited by OS (JP) 15 January 1970

Activities

Field Visit (12 April 1956)

This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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 typecripts, 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 (5 November 2015 - 1 June 2016)

This heavily ploughed-down fort or fortified settlement is situated at the steep-sided W end of the low ridge known as Torgeith Knowe, one of several such features at the foot of the N facade of the Pentland Hills. All that can be seen of its perimeter are traces of a broad ditch, probably with an internal rampart, cutting across the spine of the ridge on the E, but the elongated interior measures in the order of 70m in length by 33m in breadth (0.24ha). The ditch, which is between 6m and 9m broad by 0.6m deep, is broken by a central causeway that probably marks the position of the entrance on the E.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 01 June 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3705

References

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