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Ednam Hill
Enclosure (Iron Age), Fort (Iron Age)
Site Name Ednam Hill
Classification Enclosure (Iron Age), Fort (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 58386
Site Number NT73NW 8
NGR NT 7455 3749
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/58386
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Ednam
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
Cropmarks have revealed traces of an Iron Age fort occupying the summit of Ednam Hill. It is D-shaped on plan and is surrounded by three ditches, which originally would have been accompanied by three ramparts.
Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project
NT73NW 8 7455 3749.
(NT 7455 3749) Fort (NR) (site of)
(NT 7464 3740) Enclosure (NR) (site of)
OS 6"map, (1971).
Marks representing what seems to have been a fort with a small enclosure beside it appear on air photographs. The site is on the summit of Ednam Hill, 282ft OD, with a wide view in all directions. As the NW side of the hilltop consists of a straight, steep slope, this side of the fort was likewise straight, and gave to the whole structure the outline of a D with its longer axis running from SW to NE. At the NE end there were three ditches and at the SW end, where some slight traces can be seen on the ground, at least two; the fort was about 350ft long over the innermost ditch and some 295 to 310ft broad. South-east of it, on the slope descending to the Ednam - Coldstream road, the photographs indicate a small enclosure about 90ft in diameter, but this has been completely ploughed out.
RCAHMS 1956, visited 1949; J K St Joseph air photographs, (CUCAP).
No traces of the fort or enclosure were found during field investigation. From ground inspection and J K St Joseph air photograph DM 99, the fort was sited to NT 7455 3749 and the enclosure to NT 7464 3740.
Visited by OS(WDJ) 29 June 1966.
Fort and Enclosure - photographed by the RCAHMS.
RCAHMS flown 1977 and 1979.
Note (14 September 2015 - 18 May 2016)
Cropmarks have revealed a multivallate fort on the broad summit of Ednam Hill, apparently exploiting a slightly steepers slope along the NW flank. D-shaped on plan, with the lip of this slope forming the chord, it measures about 85m from NE to SW by 65m transversely (0.52ha) within three concentric ditches forming a belt some 25m deep; allowing for the presence of an inner rampart the interior extends to about 0.38ha. The ditches vary from 4m to 6m in breadth and while they apparently form a coherent scheme of defence, what may be an earlier arc of ditch detaches itself from the inner lip of the innermost on the SW side of the interior, terminating on the W side of an entrance on the S. The latter is one of two that pierce the defences, the other being in the NW side close to the N corner. What are almost certainly well-worn hollows extend from the entrances up into the interior, that from the S being the broader, but both with arms leading to a circular macula on the NE side which may be a round-house.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3435
Sbc Note
Visibility: This site is visible as a cropmark.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
