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Rowchester, Kippilaw Mains
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Rowchester, Kippilaw Mains
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 55446
Site Number NT52NW 5
NGR NT 547 290
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/55446
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Bowden
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT52NW 5.00 547 290.
NT52NW 5.01 NT 547 291 and NT 546 290 Samian Ware
(Centre: NT 5476 2905) Fort (NR) Rowchester Roman Station (R)
(Supposed Site of).
OS 6" map (1918-38)
Fort, Rowchester, Kippilaw Mains. All that now remains of this fort is the W sector of the ditch, some 130 yds in length along the arc, which can be seen in the paddock SW of Kippilaw Mains and in the plantation that adjoins the paddock on the NW. The OS map indicates that the fort was originally oval, measuring some 130 yds from NNE to SSW within the ditch by 95 yds transversely, but Christison quotes internal measurements of 400ft by 220ft (D Christison 1895).
Inside the plantation the ditch is 50ft wide and up to 4ft deep; in the paddock the depth is the same, but it shows a steep scarp 5ft high interfered with and was at one time enclosed as a rabbit-warren.
Between the plantation and the paddock the ditch is traversed by a ramp which may have been the entrance; this about 18ft wide but has been quarried on the S side.
Kinghorn's report (G Chalmers) that the fort was a parallelogram with rounded corners, "fortified by a rampart and a fosse thirty feet wide and nearly twenty feet deep", is hard to reconcile with the remains as they appear today. Nor is there any justification for the note "Roman Station, supposed site of", appearing on the OS map.
RCAHMS 1956, visited 1945
The west side of the fort exists as a ditch with an overall width of 12.3m and a depth of 1.2m. The NE part consists of a ditch with a bank on its north side; the ditch being c.2.5m deep, and the bank 0.6m high. From NT 5483 2906 - NT 5476 2900 a scarp, 1.0m high, runs along the SE side of a fence and enters the paddock at its south end. The remains of the fort on the SW side of the paddock consist of a ditch 1.5m maximum depth and 14.5m wide, and on the NE and SW sides of which is an old plantation bank.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (EGC) 16 February 1961
NT 5476 2905 Archaeological test pitting and excavation of a cable trench prior to the erection of an overhead power line and underground cable across Rowchester fort, Kippielaw Farm, near Bowden, found the areas of pole assembly and cable trenching to be devoid of significant archaeological features. Two fragments of a whetstone (date unknown) were recovered from topsoil near the present farm buildings.
A watching brief located a stone wall, possibly 18th century in date, below the farm track crossing the site.
Test pits in the area of a Scheduled linear earthwork lying to the W of Rowchester fort found no significant archaeological deposits.
Sponsor: Scottish Power plc.
J Gooder 2000
Note (19 August 2015 - 26 August 2016)
This fort is situated on a rounded spur which descends gently towards the NE and Kippilaw steading. Its defences probably comprise twin ramparts with a medial ditch, but over half the circuit has been virtually levelled and there is little trace of the inner rampart anywhere. Nevertheless, enough remains to show that the interior measures about 120m from ENE to WSW by 80m transversely (0.77ha), and there was probably an entrance on the WSW, its position marked by a causeway across the ditch. The latter is massive, in the field at the W end measuring up to 14.5m in breadth by 1.5m in depth, and continuing through the adjacent woodland immediately N, while another sector visible on the NE is 2.5m in depth and flanked by a counterscarp rampart 0.6m in height; what may be the scarp of the ditch can also be traced through the woodland on the SE. In addition to these defences, cropmarks photographed in 1976 reveal the ditch of a slighter enclosure extending into the field on the SW, though quite how it relates to the defences is unknown. The ditch is from 2m to 3m in breadth and on plan presents the appearance of a hornwork enclosing an area measuring 50m from NE to SW by 45m transversely and possibly broken by an entrance at the SW apex of the enclosure. Traces of a second ditch can be seen some 10m outside its line on the NW and extending another 40m further out into the field before turning S, and there are traces of other ditches in the field to the S.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 26 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3310
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
