Blackchester

216. Fort, Blackchester.

Situated in a plantation about ½ mile northeast of Pilmuir, at an elevation of some 800 feet above sea-level, is an almost circular fort (fig. 105) with an interior diameter of some 312 feet. It is surrounded by three concentric ramparts with intervening trenches and a slight trench in front of the outer rampart towards the west side. On the north side the defences measure 23 feet from the crest of. the inner rampart to the top of the counterscarp of the outer trench. Where highest, the innermost rampart is 7 feet high towards the outside, the middle one 13 feet, and the outermost 6 feet. Several hut circles are traceable in rear of the inner rampart on the north, and near the centre is a small depression 3 feet deep and measuring 11 feet by 6 feet in diameter. The entrances are two: one towards the south-west and the other towards the north-east. The ramparts appear to be mainly of earth.

See Antiquaries, xxix. p. 136; Ber. Nat. Club, 1882-84, p. 312.

RCAHMS 1915, visited 11th August 1908.

OS Map: Ber., xix. NE.

This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.

Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.

This fort is situated on the shoulder of a low spur that projects NE from the rising ground on the W side of Lauderdale. Roughly circular on plan, three ramparts are preserved everywhere except on the SE, where a quadrant of the defences to the rear of the old shepherd's cottage has been demolished. Detailed examination of these defences, however, suggests that they represent two periods of construction, the innermost, which in contrast to the outer ramparts has no flanking ditch, probably representing a settlement inserted into the interior of an earlier fort. This fort measures about 115m in internal diameter (1ha) and its defences comprise two substantial ramparts with external ditches, the outer depicted about 1912 by James Hewat Craw with a short fragment of a counterscarp bank surviving on the N (RCAHMS 1915, 114-15, no.216, fig 105); together these form an impressive belt at least 25m deep. The perimeter of the innermost settlement enclosure is not only slighter in construction, but according to Craw's profile of the defences on the W its interior has been dug into the slope, measuring a little over 90m in diameter (0.64ha); two or three stone-founded round-houses are set round the N side at the foot of the rampart adjacent to a later quarry pit. Craw's plan shows opposed entrances on the NE and SW respectively. At the former the ramparts of the fort return and unite around the terminals of the inner ditch, and the hollow of the entrance way continues directly into the gap in the settlement enclosure; no such details are shown by Craw at the SW entrance, but here the gap in the settlement enclosure is apparently offset to the E from the axis of the entrance through the fort ramparts.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 21 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4016

Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.

Information from Scottish Borders Council