Morebattle

NT72NE 20 7805 2525

Earthwork, Morebattle (Site).

National Survey air-photographs (RAF: 540/A/434: 5026-7) reveal the crop-markings of a hitherto unrecorded earth-work on the N side and near the tip of the promontory that lies in a bend of the Kale Water, half a mile ENE of Morebattle and at a height of 300ft OD. The earthwork is semi-oval on plan, the chord being formed by the edge of a steep cliff some 60ft above the valley floor. No defences are visible along the cliff edge and it is possible that the N part of the work has been destroyed by landslips caused by river erosion. Otherwise the defences appear to consist of double ramparts and ditches enclosing an area whose maximum measurements are 350ft from E to W by 200ft from N to S. There are no signs of entrances or of internal buildings.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 5 June 1950.

Miscellaneous Earthworks:

In the absence of excavation, over eighty earth-works in the county cannot be classified either because they do not conform to recognised types or because their plans are not sufficiently distinctive. A few of these, occupying commanding positions on hilltops or the crests of ridges, are unlikely to be later than the 11th century; such are Bonchester Hill (No.278), the group of earthworks on Whitcastle Hill (No.865), and five roughly D-shaped earthworks lying within a radius of two miles between the River Teviot and the Slitrig Water-Gray Hill 2 (No.999), Birny Knowe (No.995), Crom Rig (No.1000), Dodburn (No.160,ii), and Pen Sike (No.168)-which are characterised by ramparts massive in proportion to their size. The majority, however, are situated on hill-sides or in the bottoms of valleys, generally below the 800ft contour, and are probably mediaeval. Most of these lower-lying structures, of which the out-standing examples are Timpendean (No.435), Iron Castle (No.945), and Scraesburgh (No.466), were evidently designed for habitation and presumably contained wooden buildings; but a few of the simpler earthworks such as Huntly Burn (No.51) may have been enclosures for stock.

RCAHMS 1956.

There are no traces of this earthwork to be seen on the

ground. Sited to NT 7805 2525 from APs (Visible on RAF air photographs 540/A/434: 5026-7).

Visited by OS (WDJ) 14 November 1967.

This fort has been recorded as cropmarks on oblique aerial photography (RCAHMSAP 1976, 1985, 1990, 1996, 2000) lying on a promontory formed by a bend in the Kale Water to the ENE of Morebattle. Four concentric ditches, each about 3m wide, describe an arc against the edge of the promontory forming a roughly D-shaped fort measuring about 100m NE-SW by about 40m.

Information from RCAHMS (KMM) 16 November 2004