Bell Hill
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Bell Hill
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 54205
Site Number NT42NE 10
NGR NT 4978 2858
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/54205
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Selkirk
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Selkirkshire
NT42NE 10 4978 2858.
(NT 4978 2858) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
Fort, Bell Hill. One of the best examples of the 'ridge-top' class of native forts, common in the western part of Roxburghshire, is situated at a height of 900ft OD. on one of a group of small rock-ridges lying with their axes NE and SW on the E side of Bell Hill.
The SE. and NW. flanks of the ridge rise steeply for 40ft and 20ft respectively from the floors of gullies which were probably marshy in former times, but the NE and SW approaches are only gently inclined. As is usual in forts of this type, the enclosed area is roughly rectangular on plan with rounded corners; it measures 230ft by 95ft along its axes, and has been defended by triple ramparts and ditches. The inner rampart, drawn round the margin of the flattish summit of the ridge, is built of rock rubble excavated from the interior: no stone revetting can be seen and it is unlikely that any such existed as the local rock is friable and unsuitable for dry walling.
At several points small outcrops of rock have been embodied in the core of the rampart, as at Blackchester and other comparable forts in Roxburghshire.
Today the inner face of the rampart is not more than 4ft high, but its outer face merges with the natural slopes of the ridge and thus presents a continuous scarp which measures from 9ft in height on the SW side to
22ft. on the SE. The ditch associated with this rampart is faintly visible at the foot of the scarp at the NE end and at the S corner of the fort, but elsewhere it has been obliterated by soil-creep. The medial and outer ramparts are similar in construction to the inner rampart but are less well preserved; on the SE flank of the ridge both are reduced to narrow terraces, while the outer rampart has been entirely levelled by cultivation on the NW side. At either end of the fort these ramparts swing out slightly, leaving spaces of crescentic shape between the medial rampart and the inner ditch. The medial ditch presents a striking appearance on the NW side, where its profile is sharp and is in marked contrast to the blurred outline seen elsewhere, and where it measures 15ft in width at the top, 8ft in width at the bottom and 4ft 6 in in depth; it seems probable, however, that this sector of the ditch has been used by carts employed to carry away the material from surface quarries along the adjacent inner scarp, and that its profile has been modified in consequence. The outer ditch is only represented by a short fragment at the SW apex.
There are two entrances, at the S and E corners, both of which appear to be original, but the interior has been under cultivation and is featureless.
A small oval enclosure with an earthen wall, either a hut or a stell, which is situated in the space between the inner and medial ramparts at the W corner of the fort, is clearly intrusive.
RCAHMS 1957, visited 1949
This fort has been adequately described above. The well defined ditch on the north is 6.5m broad and 1.4m deep. The ramparts attain a maximum height of 2-3m.
Visited by OS (JLD) 24 January 1961.
Note (1 December 2014 - 31 August 2016)
This fort occupies a rocky hillock on the SE flank of Bell Hill, and to some extent the elongated character of the hillock has determined the rectilinear plan of its defences. This is certainly how the RCAHMS investigators viewed the plan they drew up in 1949, with a unitary scheme of triple ramparts and ditches forming a belt from 23m deep along the NW and SE flanks, and up to 37m at the ends, where the outer defences swing round the hillock on a slightly wider arc. So much so, that more recent aerial photographs give the impression that the innermost enclosure, which measures internally some 70m from ENE to WSW by 29m transversely (0.21ha), may represent a reconfiguration of an earlier and more oval design. As such it conforms to a pattern of rectilinear settlements overlying earlier forts, though its rampart is a substantial feature, forming a mound 1.2m in height internally and dropping from 2.4m to 6.5m externally into the bottom of an accompanying ditch. The outer defences comprise two ramparts with external ditches, though in places these have been severely reduced by cultivation and the outermost ditch is visible only at the WSW end; on the NW flank the RCAHMS investigators speculated that the middle ditch had also been enlarged to facilitate the subsequent quarrying that has eaten back into the innermost rampart. There are entrances at the E and S angles, but the interior has been cultivated and is now featureless. A later pen or hut has been built across the middle rampart and the inner ditch on the W.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2590
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
