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Easter Broomhouse
Fort (Iron Age)
Site Name Easter Broomhouse
Classification Fort (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 57681
Site Number NT67NE 74
NGR NT 67931 76356
NGR Description Centre
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/57681
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Spott (East Lothian)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County East Lothian
NT67NE 74 NT 67929 76363
NT 679 763. Fort, Easter Broomhouse: visible on aerial photographs taken by CUCAP and RCAHMS (1976-7).
(Undated) information in NMRS.
Noted as a 'promontory enclosure'.
P Hill 1978
Scheduled as Easter Broomhouse, promontory fort.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 30 November 1993.
This fort has been recorded as cropmarks on oblique aerial photography (RCAHMSAP 1976, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000) and is situated on a slight promontory above the N bank of the Spott Burn, about 48m SSW of Easter Broomhouse farmsteading (NT67NE 114). Two ditches about 10m apart have been drawn across the neck of the promontory from the steep scarp on the N bank of the Spott Burn on the SW, to a small gully on the NW. There may be an entrance on the SW. Linear features have been recorded in the interior of the fort.
Information from RCAHMS (KMM) 21 May 2004.
Note (2 January 2016 - 20 October 2016)
Cropmarks have revealed a fort occupying a promontory formed where a minor tributary has broken through the N lip of the gully of the Spott Burn. Though the channel of the tributary in the field to the N is largely filled, it is clearly visible as a cropmark extending in a shallow curve westwards and would formally have emphasised the character of the promontory. Two ditches drawn in an arc across the neck on the W bar access from this direction, while elsewhere the interior is defined by no more than the low escarpment dropping into the gully. The ditches lie some 10m apart, the inner about 3m in breadth and the outer rather broader at 5.5m, and while neither can be traced to the lip of the gully on the S, on the N they both appear to terminate just short of the silted channel, probably marking the position of an entrance along this margin of the promontory. The inner ditch, however is also broken by a broad causeway on the W, and, if there is a corresponding gap in the outer ditch, which disappears into an area of natural cropmarkings, it certainly does not directly oppose it. This and the rather narrower character of the inner ditch perhaps indicate that rather than a single scheme of defence, the two ditches and their upcast ramparts were successive, though there is no evidence as to which might have been the earlier. The inner cuts off an area measuring about 60 m in length from E to W by a maximum of 65m transversely (0.28ha) and allowing for the presence of an internal rampart the interior would have extended to about 0.25ha: the outer encloses an area measuring 75m in length by 65m in breadth (0.41ha), its interior extending to about 0.36ha. The only feature visible within the fort is a length of ditch extending across the interior from ESE to WNW; its purpose is unknown.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3908
Note (6 October 2022)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.
Note (10 June 2023)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed and changed from FORT (IRON AGE), LINEAR FEATURE (PERIOD UNKNOWN).
