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Birkenside Hill

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Fort (Prehistoric)

Site Name Birkenside Hill

Classification Fort (Prehistoric)

Canmore ID 55938

Site Number NT54SE 4

NGR NT 56919 40970

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/55938

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Oblique aerial view of the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the NE.
Oblique aerial view of the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the NE.Oblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the NNE, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the ENE, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the NE, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the SW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the NW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures, a pit-alignment and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the S, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Oblique aerial view.Oblique aerial view.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the ENE, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the SE, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Oblique aerial view centred on the soilmarks of the fort, taken from the SSE.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial view of the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the SSW.Oblique aerial view of the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the SSE.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the WSW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the SSW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the W, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Oblique aerial view.Birkenside Hill and Camp Strip, oblique aerial view, taken from the WSW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures, a pit-alignment and linear cropmarks. A possible fort is visible in the upper right-hand corner of the photograph.Oblique aerial viewPublications drawings; eleven inked plans mounted on a single sheet. Digital image.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the NNW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Oblique aerial view of Birkenside Hill centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enlcosures and linear cropmarks, taken from the ENE.Oblique aerial view centred on the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the ENE.Birkenside Hill, NT54SE 4, Ordnance Survey index card, page number 2, VersoOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial view centred on the soilmarks of the fort, taken from the NNW.Oblique aerial view.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the E, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures, pit-alignment and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill and Camp Strip, oblique aerial view, taken from the WSW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures, a pit-alignment and linear cropmarks. A possible fort is visible in the upper right-hand corner of the photograph.Birkenside Hill, NT54SE 4, Ordnance Survey index card, RectoOblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the WNW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the NE, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the SW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures and linear cropmarks.Oblique aerial view centred on the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the E.Oblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the E, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures, pit-alignment and linear cropmarks.Oblique aerial view of the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the E.Oblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewBirkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the WNW, centred on the cropmarks of a fort, enclosures, a pit-alignment and linear cropmarks.Birkenside Hill, oblique aerial view, taken from the E, centred on the cropmarks of a fort.Oblique aerial view centred on the soilmarks of the fort, taken from the SE.Oblique aerial view centred on the soilmarks of the fort, taken from the NE.Oblique aerial view centred on the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the SW.Oblique aerial view centred on the parchmarks of the fort, taken from the NNE.Birkenside Hill, NT54SE 4, Ordnance Survey index card, page number 1, RectoBirkenside Hill, NT54SE 4, Ordnance Survey index card, RectoOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial view of the fort at Birkenside Hill.Oblique aerial viewOblique aerial viewOblique aerial view

Administrative Areas

  • Council Scottish Borders, The
  • Parish Legerwood
  • Former Region Borders
  • Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
  • Former County Berwickshire

Archaeology Notes

NT54SE 4 5692 4097.

(NT 5692 4097) Earthwork (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map (1968)

Camp (site of).

OS 1st edition 6" map (Berwickshire 1862, sheet xxvi).

This monument, situated in cultivated land at the top of a steep slope forming the E wall of the Leader valley, appears to have been an elliptical earthwork surrounded by a rampart and ditch, and measuring internally some 465ft by 366ft. The defences, apart from a short distance on the SSW, are almost obliterated.

RCAHMS 1915, visited 1910

A large, sub-oval area on the top of a hill with gentle slopes on all sides except the W. There is a slight, shallow broad trench on the SW, otherwise no trace of any other earthworks. The field is under cultivation and the site appears to be non-defensive. It measures approximately 159m by 123m.

Visited by OS (JD) 20 May 1955

A very slight scarp on the N and S sides, a scarp 0.5m high on the W side and traces of a shallow ditch on the SW are the only traces remaining of this earthwork. The E side has been ploughed out. The work would appear to have been roughly oval in shape and measured about 112m N-S by about 141m transversely, rather smaller than the size given in the previous field report.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 8 October 1962

This site has been photographed from the air by Mr Forsyth.

Information from J Forsyth, Dept of Educational Resources, Borders Regional Council, Newtown St Boswells, 25 September 1979.

Aerial photographs have also been taken by the RCAHMS in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996.

This fort is situated on the summit of Birkenside Hill, a low rise at the top of the steep valley side on the E bank of the Leader Water. The fort is regularly under the plough and its earthworks had been reduced to low scarps by the early 20th century. The site has been regularly photographed from the air (RCAHMSAP 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998), and this description is based on cropmarks recorded on the aerial photographs, in particular those taken in 1995.

The fort is roughly oval on plan, with its long axis lying roughly E and W. There are two roughly concentric ditches extending around the hill, broken on the ENE by an entrance, the line of which is slightly staggered between the inner and outer ditches. A rampart presumably accompanied both ditches. The western arc of the defences has not been recorded on the aerial photography as it extends into a patch of rough ground unresponsive to cropmarking and is overlain by a shelterbelt.

In the interior of the fort the narrow lines of two palisade trenches can be seen, lying concentric to each other, and about 5m from the inner lip of the inner ditch. Around the N, E and S, the palisades are roughly concentric to the inner ditch, but to the W they diverge from the ditch and turn to run across the interior. The palisade trenches appear to continue unbroken past the entrance in the ditches and are likely to belong to a different phase of construction. On the S the inner palisade trench intersects the wall trench of a timber round house.

Information from RCAHMS (DCC) 4 December 2003

Further Details

Activities

Field Visit (June 1910)

RCAHMS County Inventory: Berwickshire

244. Fort, Birkenside Hill.

This fort (fig. 120) is situated in cultivated land, at an elevation of some 790 feet above sea-level, at the top of a steep slope forming the east wall of the Leader valley, midway between Birkenside and Huntshaw. It appears to have been an elliptical earthwork surrounded by a rampart and trench, and measuring interiorly some 465 feet by 366 feet. The defences, except for a short distance on the south-south-west, are almost obliterated.

RCAHMS 1915, visited June 1910.

OS Map: Ber., xxvi. NW.

Further Details

Note (15 January 2016 - 18 May 2016)

Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

The defences of this fort, perched high on the SW shoulder of Birkenside Hill on the E side of the Leader Water opposite Chapel on Leader, had already been reduced by ploughing by the mid 19th century, and by the time that James Hewat Craw came to draw up a plan about 1912 only the line of the outer rampart could be traced, accompanied on the S by a length of broad ditch. Since 1976, however, the fort has been regularly under crop and has been photographed as a cropmark on no fewer than fourteen occasions, not only revealing the overall plan of the defences, but also traces of timber round-houses within the interior; Getmapping satellite imagery taken under bare earth conditions has also revealed traces of the ramparts. Oval on plan, the fort has measured at least 115m from E to W by 90m transversely (0.86ha) within at least two ramparts with external ditches, while the soilmarks also suggest the presence of a third, counterscarp rampart, around the NE quarter; together they evidently formed a massive belt of defences in excess of 30m deep. There are at least two entrances, on the ENE and WSW respectively, and at the former the causeways through the ditches are slightly staggered to create an oblique approach exposing the visitor's right side. In some years the cropmarks have revealed two palisade trenches set about 5m apart and 5m within the lip of the inner ditch, but these are not strictly concentric with the ditch, converging on the E and diverging on the W, and should probably be regarded as evidence of a free-standing enclosure, or indeed successive enclosures, upon the site; in view of the soilmark traces of the massive ramparts, the palisade trenches are almost certainly of earlier date, though enclosing a similar area. On the SE the inner of the palisade trenches intersects the ring-grooves of at least two timber round-houses.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4003

Further Details

Sbc Note

Visibility: This site is visible as a cropmark.

Information from Scottish Borders Council

Further Details

References

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