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Castlestead, Kaeside
Fort (Period Unassigned)(Possible)
Site Name Castlestead, Kaeside
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Kaeside
Canmore ID 55788
Site Number NT53SW 8
NGR NT 5173 3414
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/55788
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Melrose
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT53SW 8 5173 3414.
(NT 5173 3414) Castlestead (NAT) Earthwork (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map (1967)
A fort (D Christison 1895) known as 'Castlestead' (Name Book 1859) which was 'surrounded with a deep ditch, in some places with two fosses, more than a mile and a half in compass, called the Kaeside, or rather the Kidside. Some part of the ditch is about 10' high. The place where the camp has been, there are two very deep fosses to the north, but to the south the rampiers are broken down by cultivation' (A Milne 1743). Chalmers states that it consisted of a double fosse and rampart but the Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB) notes two embankments on the slope of the hill. Nothing can now be identified on the ground but AP's (RAF 106G.Scot.UK 18: 5131-2) show a rampart enclosing an area roughly 100m by 50m. A road is said to have led westwards from the site (See NT53SW 23).
G Chalmers 1888; RCAHMS 1956, visited 1945 and 1948
The OS siting lies on the top of a slight poorly defined north facing spur which is now regularly cultivated. There are no surface indications or ramparts or ditches but below the crest of the spur on a steep slope are two curvilinear terraces one above the other, both approx 60.0m long. The upper one is 4.0m wide with an 0.8m outer scarp and the lower is up to 8.0m wide and 1.2m high; both terminate in steep slopes and they almost certainly did not continue beyond their present length. The scarps were formerly wooded which may indicate their origin.
The marks shown on OS AP's are probably fortuitous.
Visited by OS (TRG) 1 March 1977
Project (1993)
NT517 341 In 1993 K Clark from the Newstead Research Project surveyed Kaeside. This fort is recorded in the NMRS as site NT53SW 8. Resistivity results show a poorly defined but roughly circular enclosure located on a knoll. It appears to be circled to the S by three partial ditches. Magnetometry results show three circular anomolies within the enclosure which may represent structures.
Sponsors: National Museum of Scotland, University of Bradford, British Academy, Borders Regional Council
A L Wise 1995
Resistivity (1993)
NT517 341 Resistivity
Sponsors: National Museum of Scotland, University of Bradford, British Academy, Borders Regional Council
A L Wise 1995
Magnetometry (1993)
NT517 341 Magnetometry.
Sponsors: National Museum of Scotland, University of Bradford, British Academy, Borders Regional Council
A L Wise 1995
Note (24 August 2015 - 8 September 2016)
All that remains visible of a fort or fortified settlement reported in 1743 (Milne 1743, 56) are two ramparts reduced to terraces around the nose of a low spur projecting from the slope N of Kaeside, the upper of them 4m wide and 0.8m high, and the lower 8m wide by 1.2m high; the ramparts on the S had already been demolished by 1743 and were already under plough. Geophysical survey, however, has revealed traces of up to three ditches forming a circular enclosure, and three anomalies within the interior that may be the remains of internal structures (Wise 1995); no dimensions for the interior are published.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 08 September 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3331
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
