Soon Hope Burn

255. Fort, Soon Hope Burn, Harelaw.

This fort is situated behind the shoulder of Harelaw Hill and at the top of a steep brae running down to the Soon Hope Burn, a small feeder of the Harelaw Burn. It stands at an elevation of 900 feet above sea-level some 600 yards north-north-east of and 350 feet lower than the fort on the top of the hill, Harelaw Fort (No. 254). It is irregular in shape, the longest axis running north-west and southeast, and it measures internally 104 feet in length and 92 feet in breadth. It is surrounded by a wall, which has been built of stone, but which is now much depleted of this material. It measures 12 feet in width at the base and rises to a height of 4 feet at most above the interior. A well defined entrance 11 feet wide is seen on the north-eastern flank, with a passage still traceable outwards, curvings lightly to the north, for a distance of 30 feet between parallel walls. From the southern side of this entrance a shallow ditch 10 feet wide and a low mound on the counierscarp 9 feet broad sweep round by the south and west, the latter terminating about the southern extremity and the former being carried round the western arc, from which side the ground slopes gently upwards and the fort is · most accessible. The ditch falls to a depth of 3 feet on the scarp and 1 ½ feet on the counterscarp. In the south-western corner of the interior are the stone foundations of an oval enclosure overgrown with grass, with traces of an opening to the north-east. It measures internally 28 feet by 24 feet, while the wall is distributed over a width of 9 feet. A heap of recently collected stones has been deposited in it.

RCAHMS 1924, visited 14 May 1913.

OS Map ref: xv. S.E.

Settlement, Soon Hope Burn, Harelaw.

Although the Inventory describes it as a fort, this structure is actually a settlement. The wall has been of boulder-faced rubble construction, but the facings have been robbed and the width of the resulting mound is some 12 ft. The original wall was no doubt narrower. The ditch is purely for drainage, and the outer bank is hypothetical. The interior is scooped on two levels, the lower half, on the entrance side, forming one continuous court, while the upper level is divided by unexcavated baulks into three compartments, of which the central and SW members were almost certainly occupied by huts opening on to the lower court. No definite hut foundations are however visible. The work is probably Romano-British but could be medieval.

Visited by RCAHMS (KAS) 31 May 1954.