Hillside Knowe

NT34SW 3 3412 4337

(NT 3412 4337) Settlement (NR)

OS 6" map (1964)

The remains of two settlements of different types and dates, the later of which has been built on top of the earlier.

Only fragmentary traces remain of the earlier settlement, which was bounded by a palisaded fence and contained timber houses. Only two disconnected lengths of palisade trench are now visible (IA and IB) appearing in each case as a shallow depression 2' in width and 6" in depth. These may belong to what was originally a double palisade, following roughly concentric curves at a distance of about 15' apart; on the other hand IB may be merely part of a hornwork covering an entrance similar to the example found at Fasset Hill, Roxburghshire. Without excavation it is no longer possible to determine the area originally enclosed by the palisade. A shallow scooped platform (1) measuring about 25' across, and now overlain by the stony foundations of one of the houses of the later occupation, presumably represents the site of a timber house belonging to the palisaded settlement.

The later settlement measures 160' by 100' within a stone wall (II) which is now largely reduced to a stony scarp. On the SW, however, where it appears as a turf- covered stony bank up to 12' in thickness and 1'6" in height, the quantity of debris suggests that the wall was originally 8' to 10' in thickness. Six outer facing- stones are still visible, but no trace of the inner face remains. The entrance, situated on the ENE, measures 13' in width. Within the interior, the surface of which is uneven, due probably to shallow quarrying to provide material for the wall, the foundations of three stone- walled houses (1, 2 and 3) can be distinguished. They measure between 20' and 25' in diameter within walls which are about 4' in thickness.

Immediately to the SW of the settlement there is a roughly circular enclosure, measuring about 40' in diameter within a low earthen bank in which a few small boulders are visible. The bank has an average thickness of 6' and is only about 1' in height. A slight depression on the SW may represent an entrance. The enclosure is apparently later than the palisaded settlement as it lies athwart the line of palisade- trench IB, but it is uncertain whether or not it has any association with the later settlement.

(Information from A McLaren notebook, 2, 91)

RCAHMS 1967, visited 1964

This site is generally as described. The date and purpose of the enclosure to the SW are uncertain.

Visited by OS (JLD) 21 June 1961 and (BS) 27 March 1974.