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Hodge Cairn
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Hodge Cairn
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 54654
Site Number NT45SW 6
NGR NT 4190 5140
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/54654
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Stow
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Midlothian
NT45SW 6 4190 5140.
(NT 4190 5140) Hodge Cairn (NAT) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1970)
Hodge Cairn: This fort (R W Feachem 1963) or settlement (R Feachem 1965) is oval, measuring 400' by 250' within two concentric ramparts some 40' apart with a medial ditch, the inner rampart standing up to 15' above the ditch. The entrance is in the NE. The interior is featureless.
RCAHMS 1929
The remains of this fort, much destroyed by quarrying and tree-felling, are as described. The inner rampart is best preserved on the N where it has an external height of 3.7m and an internal height of 1.2m; here, the outer rampart is 0.8m above the bottom of the medial ditch. The interior of the fort, rising about 0.3m above the inner rampart, is covered by old quarry-holes and uprooted tree stumps.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 4 January 1965
No change to previous field report.
Visited by OS (BS) 11 August 1975
Field Visit (9 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This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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 - 24 May 2016)
This fort occupies a steep-sided hillock on the SE spur of White Hill, which forms a ridge separating the valley of the Brockhouse Burn on the SW from the Gala Water on the NE. Contained largely within a stone plantation dyke, the fort is now free of trees, which were evidently planted over a rash of small quarry-pits which pockmark the whole of the interior and the defences. Apart from these, the oval interior is featureless and measures about 110m from ENE to WSW by 76m transversely (0.69ha) within twin ramparts with a broad medial ditch; where best preserved on the N the inner rampart stands 1.2m high internally and 4.5m above the bottom of the ditch. In addition to these defences within the plantation wall, Getmapping satellite imagery (2015) indicates a possible ploughed-out outer ditch on the SW, mounting the slope out of a natural gully that flanks SE side of the fort, and presumably extending round the easiest line of approach across the spur from the NW. Aerial photography also shows several gaps in the ramparts, but most are probably the result of quarrying and the only one that appears to be original is accompanied by a causeway across the ditch on the E.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 24 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3765
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
