Little Trowpenny

Fort, Little Trowpenny.

This fort lies in a plantation on the SW end of the ridge, three quarters of a mile N of Ancrum village, and over-looks the main road from Jedburgh to St Boswells from a height of 500ft OD. In spite of its comparatively low elevation the site is a strone one, for, from the rim of the gently inclined summit area, the ground falls moderately steeply on the NW and SE and very steeply for 150ft to the bed of the Witch Burn on the SW. The only easy approach is thus from the NE, along the flat crest of the ridge. The fort had been mutilated by rig cultivation before it was planted, and all that remains are segments of four concentric ramparts drawn across the neck of the ridge on the NE. The inner rampart (A on RCAHMS 1956, fig.93), which extends in an arc across the full width of the ridge and is pierced at the apex by an entrance 10ft wide, was originally stone-faced and measured about 12ft thick at the base. Short lengths of both inner and outer faces, formed by boulders one course high, can be seen where the rampart dies out on the edge of the summit area on the E., while three jamb- stones, one measuring 4ft long by 2ft 6in wide and 1ft 6in deep, occur in the entrance. Otherwise the wall foundations are buried under the spread of the core, which averages 32ft. in thickness and up to 5ft in height. It is evident that this inner rampart was originally continuous round the well-defined margin of the summit, enclosing a roughly circular area some 200ft in diameter. Cultivation and planting have obscured any internal structures. The second rampart (B) similarly extends across the neck of the ridge and has an entrance, 10ft wide, directly opposite the inner entrance. A line of outer facing-stones, 14ft long, is visible on the S side of the entrance-gap, but otherwise the wall is reduced to a mound with a maximum thickness of 36ft and up to 5ft high. It is possible that this rampart was likewise continuous and that its track along the steep NW face of the ridge is represented by the irregular crestline shown on the plan. The two outer ramparts (C and D), on the other hand, were probably only detached segments added to the defences on the most vulnerable side. Both are in poor condition and have been entirely obliterated on the SE side of the main axis of the ridge. Rampart C, a mound up to 2ft high and averaging 18ft thick, shows no stonework; but rampart D, which is accompanied by an outer ditch, now largely silted up, still retains a number of inner and outer facing-stones and measures 7ft 3in in thickness. Massive boulders are employed, one of which measures 3ft 8in in length, 2ft 4in in width and 2ft 8in in depth.

The fort has yielded no recorded relics but is presumably of Early Iron Age date.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 5 May 1948.

NT62NW 9 6309 2560

(NT 6309 2560) Fort (NR).

OS 6" map, Roxburghshire, (1923)

The remains of this fort are as described as above (RCAHMS). The ramparts are thickly overgrown, and a modern track leading to the entrance from the north, cuts through the two outer ramparts which have now been reduced east of the track.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(WDJ) 2 December 1963.

This fort is situated on the nose of a ridge that terminates in what is in effect a steep-side promontory above the park that surrounded Ancrum House. Its defences comprise no fewer that four ramparts drawn across the spine of the ridge to bar access from the NE, but in 1948 RCAHMS investigators were of the view that the inner, now reduced to a bank some 6.5m in thickness by 1.5m in height on the NE, and possibly the second, a bank of similar dimensions, had encircled the whole of the promontory to form a roughly circular enclosure measuring internally about 60m in diameter (0.28ha). Occasional facing stone indicate the inner rampart is some 3.6m in thickness and they are both pierced by an entrance in the middle of the NE arc. The two outer ramparts are in a more fragmentary state, only surviving on the NW margin of the promontory, but the outermost, which is 2.2m thick, incorporates a series of massive facing-stones and is accompanied by an external ditch.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3378

Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.

Information from Scottish Borders Council