Butchercote
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Butchercote
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 57242
Site Number NT63SW 3
NGR NT 6275 3468
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/57242
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Mertoun
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Ettrick And Lauderdale
- Former County Berwickshire
NT63SW 3 6275 3468.
(Centred NT 6275 3468) Fort, Butchercote: An oval fort, 258ft x 174ft occupies the SW end of a rocky promontory. At the SW end, on cultiveted land, a rampart can be traced in the form of a terrace running round the point of the promontory. 40ft beyond this are the remains of another terrace at a lower level. The NE end seems to have been almost obliterated by cultivation and here two slight hollows 45ft apart seem to represent trenches.
J H Craw 1921.
The terrace on the SW is 3.5m broad. On the NE is avague broad hollow approximately 23.0m across, and 0.7m maximum depth. (Visible on RAF air photographs: 106G/Scot UK 18; 7241).
Visited by OS (JD) 24 May 1955.
The SW end of this earthwork is as described above. The NE section is at present under crop and no trace of the earthwork can be made out there. Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RDL) 24 September 1962
Further aerial photographs taken by the RCAHMS in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1992 and 1995.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
Field Visit (9 June 1954)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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.
Note (23 January 2016 - 18 May 2016)
The remains of this fort were first discovered by James Hewat Craw, who about 1921 noted two ramparts reduced to terraces on the nose of a promontory formed in the escarpment NNE of Butchercote Craigs, and traces of two ditches elsewhere. Since then cropmarks have been recorded of the two ditches barring access along the promontory from the NE and E, though the marks are diffuse and ragged, the outer a continuous feature some 4m in breadth, but the inner apparently a series of interlocking pits, petering out short of the S margin of the promontory; if this is a true reflection of its character, the inner cannot have been completed. It nevertheless forms part of an enclosure measuring about 75m from NE to SW by 55m transversely (0.32ha). On the N the outer ditch narrows towards its NW end and turns onto the western margin of the promontory, possibly indicating the presence of an entrance here. The interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4025
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
