Halltree Rings
Settlement (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Halltree Rings
Classification Settlement (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Chapel Hill
Canmore ID 54652
Site Number NT45SW 4
NGR NT 4005 5188
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/54652
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Stow
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Midlothian
NT45SW 4 4005 5188.
(NT 4005 5188) Halltree Rings (NAT) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1970)
Halltree Rings, a fort (R W Feachem 1963) or settlement (R W Feachem 1965) on the summit of a ridge, is circular on plan, 260' in diameter within a single heavy rampart with an external quarry ditch, the entrance being in the W. At best the rampart rises 10' above the ditch. No traces of buildings are visible on the ground in the interior, which has been ploughed, but it is very likely that the post-holes of timber-framed houses exist under the turf.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1913
A settlement on the top of a gently sloping ridge. On the NW are a well-preserved ditch and rampart while on the SE only the rampart survives, generally as a prominent scarp some 1.5m high. The strength and situation of this feature point to it being a settlement rather than a fort. It is otherwise as described.
Visited by OS (BS) 11 August 1975
Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1980 (listed as a fort).
(Undated) information in NMRS.
(Halltree Rings, Chapel Hill: scheduled as settlement).
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 10 October 1995.
Field Visit (10 June 1954)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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.
Note (19 November 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fort is situated on the rounded summit of Chapel Hill opposite Corsehope Rings (Atlas No.3724), from which it is separated by a deep and steep-sided valley. Slightly oval on plan, it measures about 82m from N to S by 72m transversely (0.48ha) within a single rampart and ditch, but there are also traces of a palisade trench within the interior enclosing an area about 55m in diameter (0.24ha). Where best preserved, on the N, the rampart stands 1.2m high internally and up to 3m above the bottom of the surrounding ditch, but the sector on the SE side of the stone dyke that traverses the fort from NE to SW has been more heavily reduced, probably accounting for an irregularity in the line of the perimeter adjacent the dyke on the SW. The rest of the interior has also been lightly cultivated, but traces of the stances of at least two timber round-houses can be discerned. The entrance lies on the W.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3764
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
