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Birkenside Hill
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
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Legerwood
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Berwickshire
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
Field Visit (June 1910)
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.
Note (15 January 2016 - 18 May 2016)
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
Sbc Note
Visibility: This site is visible as a cropmark.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
