Pleasants

This fort, which is known only from cropmarks, is situated on the low hill to the SW of Pleasants, occupying the gentle slope dropping down from the crest of the hill on the W to the lip of a steep escarpment above a tributary of the Spott Burn on the S and W. No defences are visible along the edge of this escarpment, but elsewhere the cropmarks reveal a complex arrangement of ditches which probably represent several periods of construction. At its core a belt of three concentric ditches encloses a roughly oval area measuring about 110m from E to W by 60m transversely (0.58ha), and allowing for the presence of an inner rampart on the N and E the interior would have extended to about 0.49ha. The belt of ditches is some 23m deep, the inner and middle ones measuring between 4m and 5m in breadth and the outermost rather less. A fourth ditch on the W also appears concentric, but diverges westwards, probably following the line of the outermost enclosure. The latter is on an altogether larger scale, with a ditch up to 6m in breadth pursuing a sinuous course to take in an overall area measuring about 185m from E to W by 100m transversely, and area of some 1.8ha. Towards the W end of its course, the ditch appears to bifurcates, continuing as double ditches and likely to represent two periods of construction; the fourth ditch also seems to join the general line at this point, though the cropmarks are too diffuse to be certain, and it is from adjacent this same place that a narrow ditch extends WNW across the field for a distance of about 90m, forming a triangular enclosure of about 0.28ha between the edge of the escarpment and the outermost defences of the fort; the ditch terminates just short of the fort defences, implying the presence of a broad entrance, but it is unclear whether this formed an annexe to the fort or was merely utilising its outer rampart as a convenient boundary. No entrances are visible into the fort itself, and apart from what appears to be a small quarry set immediately behind the innermost rampart at the E end, the interior is featureless.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3905

An interpretative transcription, or mapping, of information on oblique aerial photographs was produced on 22 March 2019.

The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed and changed from FORT (PREHISTORIC).