Mire Loch

NT96NW 1 9106 6824.

(NT 9106 6824) Settlement (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976).

This fort is situated at an elevation of some 250ft OD, and occupies the NW end of a rocky knoll which rises some 40ft above a cultivated field. It is enclosed by a single earth-and-stone rampart which follows the contour on three sides and crosses the summit on the fourth. It measures 178ft by 90ft from crest to crest of rampart, and has an entrance in the SE (see RCAHMS 1915 plan, fig.51). Left of the entrance, the rampart stands about 4ft above the level of the interior. On the steep slope at the N end are two conspicuous terraces 9 ft wide. In the interior are several rather indefinite foundations, and apparently a circular one on the right of the entrance and another nearer the centre. There are also a number of mounds and hollows of indeterminate character outside on the slope from the SE, probably due to quarrying.

RCAHMS 1915, visited 1908; D Christison 1895.

The remains of this fort are as described by the RCAHMS. The rampart is spread to approximately 3.0m and is 1.4m high at the S end. There is a 4.0m wide break in the rampart in the SE. The interior is considerably broken, but traces of a rectangular and a circular enclosure, defined by turf banks 0.3m high, may be seen. The two terraces on the NE are fairly well-defined; the upper measures some 38m in length. Both are approximately 3.0m wide and 1.8m high; they merge into the slope of the hillside at either end.

Visited by OS(JLD) 3 November 1954.

Although this feature is generally as described and planned by the previous authorities, it does not occupy a particularly good defensive position, and should be classified as a settlement.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS(RD) 8 March 1966.

The remains at this site are those of a probable two-phase settlement overlain by a farmstead. In the first phase the settlement measured 40m by 24.5m internally; subsequently it was extended on the NW by 13m. The enclosing bank is spread to a width of about 3.3m, except on the SE, where it is considerably thicker, with traces of an external ditch. The gap on the SE is probably associated with the farmstead, and the original entrance may have been on the N. The remains of the later farmstead are situated within the wall of the settlement. The buildings appear to have been ranged around a yard which was open on the SE. The most prominent feature is a building platform measuring 13m from NW to SE by 4.2m transversely set against the SW wall of the earlier settlement.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1979.