Kidlaw

259. Fort, Kidlaw.

At an elevation of 900 feet above sea-level on the summit of a hill at the north-west end of a spur of the Lammermuirs, about 300 yards east of Kidlaw steading, is a fine fort (fig. 189) roughly circular in shape and measuring some 370 feet in diameter internally. From the fort the ground falls with a fairly steep slope to the west and north to the Kidlaw Burn, which flows round the base of the hill about 150 feet below; to the northeast, before the ground falls away to the stream, a small knowe intervenes, and to the south-east the hill rises with a gentle ascent. There are two well-defined entrances, one to the south-south-east about 24 feet broad, which however does not here continue through the inmost rampart, and a second to the west south-west 22 feet broad. Several other gaps appear in the northern segment of the outer wall, but, as they are not continued through the inner defences, they have probably been made at a late period. All the ramparts seem to have been of stone and earth, but the stones for the greater part have been removed.

Two ramparts encircle the fort. The ends of the inner rampart at the west-south-western entrance are not exactly opposite, the western arc swinging outwards some 50 feet beyond the line of the southern arc. From the south of this entrance the second rampart has been erected about 32 feet distant from the inner rampart, but in passing the south-south-east entrance it curves outwards, till it is about 75 feet distant, and is continued round the eastern and northern arcs, closing in again on the north-western segment. From the entrance at the south-south-east a smaller rampart 10 feet broad, 1 foot in height, returns northwards for 100 yards at a distance of 30 feet from the inner and 35 feet from the second rampart. Round the south-western quadrant a further outer rampart has been formed. The fort is in this way defended round the southern half of the circle, where it is most assailable, by three ramparts (fig. 190), while on the northern half there are only two. A fine section of the defences is seen on the south-west, where the inner rampart 17 feet wide at the base rises 1 foot on the inside and 7 feet on the outside; the next 32 feet distant is broadened out to a width of 2I feet and is3 feet high on the inside and 6 ½ feet on the outside, while the outermost is 16 feet broad, 2 ½ feet high on the inside, 5 ½ on the outside and 17 feet distant from the second rampart.

A number of hut circles overgrown with grass can be traced within the fort, one group lying in the north-eastern segment of the circle, 18 feet from the wall, being composed of three impinging circles, two having an inside diameter of 21 feet and the third being rather smaller with an interior diameter of 14 feet. Two others also touching and measuring 17 feet in diameter in the interior, and probably a third, are placed towards the south-east, while an oblong enclosure 40 feet long by 32 feet broad with a hut circle 10 feet in diameter in the north-western corner lies against the western arc of the wall.

RCAHMS 1924, visited 21 May 1913.

OS Map ref: xv. S.W.

Forts and Homesteads, Kidlaw.

On the summit of a hill at the NW end of a spur of the Lammermuirs, about 300 yds E of Kidlaw steading, there is an important group of remains belonging to two successive native forts and three homesteads which are later in date than the forts . Since the remains of the earlier fort were not observed when the site was surveyed for the Inventory of East Lothian (No.259), and the fact that the later fort and the homesteads represent two distinct occupational periods is not recognized in the description which accompanies that survey, it has been thought advisable to publish a revised account illustrated by a new plan.

Fort I

The earliest structures now visible on the site are two parallel ramparts (IA-B), about 150 ft. in length and from 13 ft to 23 ft. apart, which run in an arc from NNW. to SSE. across the interior of the later fortifications. Both these ramparts are in a wasted condition, being reduced to mere terraces whose scarps are not more than 2 ft in height; the stony nature of the scarps and of the terraces behind them suggests, however , that the ramparts were not simply earthworks but were kerbed or revetted with dry-walling. The shape and size of the fort whose W defences were formed by these rampart s is conjectural since the rest of the circuit has been engulfed or obliterated by the later defences. But from the lie of the ground it is reasonable to assume that the inner rampart of the later fort (IIA), which is drawn round the shoulder of the hill , has adopted the same line as that which was formerly chosen for the E. half of the inner rampart of the earlier structure . If this is so, Fort 1 will have been roughly oval on plan with maximum internal dimensions of some 300 ft. from N to S by 200 ft from E to W.

Fort II

The second fort is a larger and more substantial structure, nearly circular on plan and with a mean internal diameter of 350 ft. Except on the NE half of the perimeter, where a ditch and rampart have presumably been levelled by cultivation, t he defences comprise triple ramparts (IIA-C) with ditches between them. The short segment of a fourth rampart (IID) which is interpolated between the inner pair on the SE arc, and which mars the symmetry of the design is most easily explained as a relic of the old fortifications which has been incorporated in the new system. All the ramparts appear to be of ‘dump’-construction, and possess steep scarps up to 7 ft in height; the thin ruined stone wall that crowns the inner rampart (IIA) for the greater part of the circuit clearly dates to the succeeding 'homestead' phase of occupation, and a fragment of a similar wall that overlies the W end of rampart IID may well belong to the same phase. The entrance mentioned in the Inventory article on the SSE side of the f ort is not an original feature, but that on the WSW is certainly original, as may well be the entrance on the opposite, ENE, side. No signs of internal buildings attributable to this, or to the preceding, fort can now be seen.

Homesteads

A third, more peaceful, phase in the history of the site is represented by the foundations of three small stone-walled homesteads (IlIA-C ) situated at different points within the interior of the later fort . All three structures are evidently contemporary since they are similar on plan, while two of them are linked by the boundary wall which, as already stated is based on the ruined inner rampart IIA: each consists of round stone huts, ranging from 10 ft to 25 ft in diameter, opening on t o a small walled courtyard.

Conclusions

The remains described above are of exceptional interest since the homesteads, which provide a terminus ante quem for the dates of construction and occupation of the two forts, are of a familiar type which was widespread throughout SE Scotland and Northumberland between the 2nd and 7th centuries AD. It follows therefore that not only the second fort at Kidlaw, but also the other circular, multivallate forts of this class, which are widely distributed throughout Berwickshire and the Lothians, but which do not appear in the adjacent counties of Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire, are to be assigned to the Early Iron Age. Furthermore, it is evident that whereas forts of this type represent, as might be expected, an advanced stage in the technique of fortification as practised in the Early Iron Age, the forts which they superseded were not necessarily univallate structures.

512642, xv SW

Visited by RCAHMS (KAS) 30 June 1954.

A complex fort stands on the hill above Kidlaw steading, occupying the hillock that forms the local summit at the NW end of the spur dropping down from Highside Hill. The defences of the fort display evidence of a complex evolution and several periods of remodelling, in the final phase comprising between two and three ramparts with external ditches enclosing a roughly circular area measuring about 114m from N to S by 110m transversely (0.9ha), with at least one entrance on the W and possibly a second on the E; the W entrance is notable for the staggered terminals of the inner rampart, which expose the visitor's right side, though this may in part be the result of the remodelling of earlier defences. Nevertheless, from this entrance round the SW quarter to a shallow re-entrant on the S, the defences comprise three ramparts with external ditches, while elsewhere there are only two visible, forming impressive external scarps with very little trace of the ditches that must have been dug into the slopes below them. The re-entrant, however, is a curious feature that suggests the realignment of earlier defences in this sector, perhaps including the blocking of an entrance, and it is probably no coincidence that what appears to be an earlier rampart reduced to a scarp can be traced on the ground between the two ramparts forming the SE sector of the latest fort as far as the E entrance. Projected westwards the arc of this earlier rampart appears to turn under the inner rampart and is picked up by a low scarp within the interior that might otherwise be interpreted as the rear of an internal quarry scoop, albeit one lying eccentrically to the inner rampart. Unfortunately the interior has been cultivated in shallow rigs in at least two directions, which has obscured several other earlier features, but traces of two more ramparts extend in an arc across its centre, enclosing the W side of the higher eastern half and clearly predating the inner rampart drawn around the E side; this earlier fort encloses an area measuring about 85m from N to S by 65m transversely (0.43ha). In addition a groove visible some 7m behind the inner rampart on the NW seems rather more substantial than the cultivation furrows and may be the remains of a palisade trench. While the full sequence here cannot be resolved without excavation, the final phase of occupation evidently post-dates the defences, comprising three small enclosures with stone-founded round-houses set on the margins of the interior on the ENE, ESE and WNW respectively, the last two incorporating the inner rampart into the perimeters of their yards.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3864