Whitcastle Hill
Earthwork(S) (Prehistoric), Linear Earthwork (Prehistoric)
Site Name Whitcastle Hill
Classification Earthwork(S) (Prehistoric), Linear Earthwork (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 54200
Site Number NT41SW 6
NGR NT 4410 1245
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/54200
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Roberton
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT41SW 6 4410 1245
(NT 4410 1245) Fort & Earthworks (NR)
OS 25" map (1967)
A finger ring (supposed to be Roman) was found in this fortification. It had the peculiarity of being formed of two different kinds of metal, one on the exterior, the other on the interior, and had an inscription scrolled round it.
Name Book 1858
A group of structures, comprising a fort and six small earthworks, all but one of which are in a comparatively good state of preservation, are situated on Whitcastle Hill. The site is a narrow ridge lying NE-SW (1000 ft O D), commanding an extensive view in all directions. The fort and four of the earthworks are crowded together on the flattish top of the ridge while the other two earthworks are situated on the SE flank and are contiguous.
The fort (no 1 on RCAHMS 1956 plan) occupies the summit at the SW end of the ridge. Sub-oval in shape, it measures 215 ft from NE to SW by 140 ft transversely within double ramparts and a medial ditch, and has a single entrance at the SW apex. For the most part, the inner rampart has been destroyed, but slight traces of it survive on either side of the entrance. Constructed of heaped earth and rock rubble, it has been strengthened, where possible, by trimming the flanks of the ridge to form a continuous scarp from the crest of the rampart to the bottom of the ditch. This scarp measures up to 21 ft in height on the SE side, and up to 15 1/2 ft on the NW. The ditch, rock-cut, is completely silted up on the SE but otherwise varies in width from 12 ft to 20 ft and has a maximum depth of 8 1/2 ft below the crest of the outer rampart, which is also of dump construction; it is not more than 2 ft high, and has been obliterated on the NE and SE sides.
The entrance, 20 ft wide, leads into a slightly excavated court which is joined at the N end to a semi-oval scoop; the only other internal feature is a wasted mound which cuts off a small segment on the NE side. A track which runs obliquely through the defences at the E angle is almost certainly later in date.
Three of the earthworks (nos 4, 6, and 7) are related, each consisting of a small curvilinear enclosure surrounded by two rubble banks, the material for which has been derived from a medial ditch, and having only a single entrance.
No 4 measures internally 105 ft from E to W by 70 ft transversely, and the entrance, in the E, is 6 ft wide. The inner bank is well preserved; the ditch is rock-cut and 20 ft wide; the outer bank is 10 ft thick on the N side. On the E and S, this bank has been levelled by cultivation, and at the W apex it is replaced by a modern field boundary. The interior is featureless.
No 6 only measures 50 ft by 44 ft internally; its entrance, at the NW corner, is 5 ft wide. The inner bank is not more than 2 ft high and its ditch, 18ft wide, is only a few inches deep. The outer bank has been destroyed on the SW side, but is well-defined on the N; on the NE it merges with the outer bank of earthwork 7. Apart from a slight hollowing of the floor in the NE half, the interior is featureless.
No 7 measures 102 ft by 80 ft internally; its entrance, in the NE, is 6 ft wide. The inner bank stands 1 ft high internally and up to 5 1/2 ft above the bottom of the ditch, while the outer bank is 3 1/2 ft. above the ditch and at most 2 1/2 ft high externally. The interior shows no sign of structures, but is divided into two parts by a curved mound which appears to be natural. It is impossible to tell whether this earthwork was built before or after no 6 as the junction between their outer banks is effected smoothly.
The three remaining earthworks (2, 3, and 5) are all rectilinear.
No 2, which measures 60 ft by 70 ft, is a quasi-rectangular enclosure surrounded by a bank up to 2 3/4 ft high, with an external quarry-ditch on the NW side. A low bank divides the interior into two compartments which do not communicate directly with one another. The higher, NW, compartment has an entrance on the SE opening into an excavated L-shaped court, while the SE compartment, which is scooped throughout, was presumably entered from the SE where the enclosure wall has been obliterated. This earthwork is clearly later than the adjacent fort.
No 3 is a simple rectangular enclosure surrounded by a bank and external quarry-ditch; it measures 70 ft by 57 ft internally. The bank is only a few inches high and the ditch has been obliterated on the short sides. An entrance on the SE, 5 ft wide, leads into a slightly excavated forecourt; there are no traces of internal structure.
Earthwork 5 has been almost completely destroyed by cultivation; all that remains is a shallow scoop measuring 80 ft from NW to SE by some 65 ft transversely.
Round the base of the ridge on the NW, NE and SE sides there is a linear earthwork consisting of a ditch averaging 10 ft wide and 2 ft deep, and a bank 1 1/2 ft high which is inside the ditch on the NW and SE, and outside it on the NE. At one point on the NW side the bottom of the ditch is 6 1/2 ft below the crest of the bank, but this is apparently due to re-use of the ditch as a roadway. There is a well-defined entrance, 10 ft wide, 20 yds NE of the E corner, while a similar earthwork branches off from this corner and its ditch can be traced eastwards for 200 yds. At the W corner the main earthwork returns SE for a few yards as though to link up with the S corner and so to enclose the ridge completely, but there is no further sign of it on this side. It is uncertain whether this earthwork is contemporary with the structures already described.
RCAHMS 1956, visited 1949
As described by the RCAHMS.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 1 March 1965
These earthworks may in fact be a group of settlements of different periods. They are generally as described by the RCAHMS. The 'fort' has the appearance of being entirely non-defensive.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (JB) 21 December 1979.
Note (1956)
(i) MISCELLANEOUS EARTHWORKS: In the absence of excavation, over eighty earthworks in the county [Roxburgh] cannot by classified either because they do not conform to recognised types or because their plans are not sufficiently distinctive. A few of these, occupying commanding positions on hilltops or the crests of ridges, are unlikely to be later than the 11th century; such are Bonchester Hill (NT51SE 8), the group of earthworks on Whitcastle Hill (NT41SW 6), and five roughly D-shaped earthworks lying within a radius of two miles between the River Teviot and the Slitrig Water- Gray Hill 2 (NT40NE 13), Birny Knowe (NT40NE 12), Crom Rig (NT40NW 16), Dodburn (No.160, ii; NT40NE 7), and Pen Sike (NT40NE 8)- which are characterised by ramparts massive in proportion to their size. The majority, however, are situated on hillsides or in the bottoms of valleys, generally below the 800 ft contour, and are probably mediaeval. Most of these lower-lying structures, of which the outstanding examples are Timpendean (NT62SW 10), Iron Castle (NT61SW 7), and Scraesburgh (NT61NE 1), were evidently designed for habitation and presumably contained wooden buildings; but a few of the simpler earthworks such as Huntly Burn (No.51) may have been enclosures for stock.
RCAHMS 1956, 50
Note (7 August 2015 - 16 August 2016)
This fort exploits the steep slopes at the SW end of a rocky ridge known as Whitcastle Hill. Oval on plan, it measures about 65m from NE to SW by 43m transversely (0.25ha) within its heavily degraded inner rampart, which has been severely reduced by ploughing along the SE flank and by demolition to create later enclosures on the NE. Nevertheless, where better preserved to either side of the entrance at the SW end it forms a low bank, and the flanks of the ridge elsewhere appear to have been deliberately scarped to create a continuous slope dropping between 4.5m and 6m into the bottom of the surrounding rock-cut ditch. The latter has a counterscarp rampart that can be traced round most of the circuit, but like the inner it has been severely reduced by later ploughing and in the NE sector entirely removed. In addition to the entrance piercing the defences on the SW, there is possibly a second on the E, though in 1949 the RCAHMS investigators who drew up the plan (RCAHMS 1956, 393-6, no.865, fig 501) were of the opinion that the trackway that mounts the slope obliquely here, exposing the visitor's right side, was probably a later feature. Despite the cultivation that has impinged upon the defences, the interior has survived largely intact; the entrance at the SW end opens into a scooped court, possibly with a house platform on the NW, while across the raised area beyond it traces of at least four timber round-houses have been revealed by oblique aerial photography. To the NE of the fort there is a cluster of oval and rectangular enclosures that probably represent a phase of late Iron Age settlement, though the cluster is unique in Roxburghshire.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 16 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3272
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
