Kirkton Schoolhouse
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Kirkton Schoolhouse
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 55379
Site Number NT51SW 5
NGR NT 5338 1432
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/55379
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Cavers
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT51SW 5 5338 1432.
(Centred: NT 5338 1432) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1916-38)
Fort, Kirkton School. Some fragmentary remains of a fort can be seen on the crest of the ridge that overlooks Kirkton School from the N. The summit of the ridge, at a height of just over 600 ft. OD, consists of a flattish area 375 ft. long and tapering in width from 140 ft. at the SW end to no more than a few feet on the NE, where it terminates in a rocky spine. Joined to the SW end of this summit-area, but at a vertical depth of 15 ft. below it, there is a semi-oval plateau, measuring 255 ft. in length and 140 ft. in width, whose SW apex has been defended by triple ramparts, 20 ft. apart and kerbed or revetted with dry walling. The inner rampart is set on the edge of the plateau while the outer pair are drawn round the steep face of the ridge. A 40-ft. length of outer facing-stones, one course high, can be seen at the S corner of the outermost rampart, but otherwise the ramparts are poorly preserved. Following a break at the W corner, which may be an original entrance, the inner rampart reappears as a bank 9 ft. wide and 1 ft. 6 in. high on the NW edge of the plateau, but on the SE side it has completely vanished: there is no trace of the other two ramparts on either of these sides.
Although it is possible that the remains so far described are those of an independent fort, as marked on the OS map, this interpretation is not altogether satisfactory since the plateau is immediately overlooked by the summit-area, and a rampart 10 ft. wide and 1 ft. 6 in. high which divides the two, curves away from the plateau at either end as though it was intended to enclose the summit. Thus, though no defences are visible elsewhere on the summit, it seems probable that the main fort lay on the summit while the plateau served as an annexe. No internal structures can be seen in either area.
RCAHMS 1956, visited 1949
As described by RCAHMS.
Revised at 25".
Visited by OS (WDJ) 5 March 1965
Note (18 August 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fort occupies a narrow spur projecting SW into the valley NW of Kirkton. The remains of the fort comprise two elements: an enclosure on the summit of the spur, which tapers back to a rocky spine on the NE, where a new farmtrack has recently been driven up onto the summit; and a slightly lower terrace extending out to the tip of the spur on the SW. Here no fewer than three ramparts are visible stepping down the slope, the inner of which can be traced back NE along the lip of the terrace on the NW. Likewise a single rampart is visible along the leading edge of the summit overlooking the terrace, curving back at either end as if to continue along the flanks of the spur. If so no trace of it survives elsewhere, but it is reasonable to conclude that it was intended to form an enclosure on the summit, extending back to the rocky spine where the modern track now breasts the crest. So defined, it measures about 115m in length and tapers from 30m in breadth at the SW end to less than 15m on the NE, an area of about 0.25ha. The defences at the SW end of the lower terrace enclose a further 0.27ha, and while in 1949 the RCAHMS investigators considered this was probably an annexe to the fort on the summit, it is perhaps more likely that the two elements are successive, with either the summit enclosure representing a contraction from a larger fort of 0.52ha occupying the whole of the upper part of the spur, or that the triple ramparts around the SW tip were an expansion from an original enclosure of 0.25ha on the summit. One possible entrance lies at the W angle of the terrace, while a slight cleft approached obliquely by a possible trackway midway along the SE flank of the summit enclosure may represent a second. The interiors of both elements are featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3304
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
