St Abb's Head

In 1980, a single trench 19.0m long was cut across the NW sector of the rampart and ditch. As a result of this, Prof Alcock infers that the level ground had been cultivated during the Roman period (a sherd of Samian pottery, probably datable to the mid 2nd century, and several glass beads, including a silver-in-glass segmented example were among the finds). A double palisade was then constructed of oak beams, with a wicker infill. This was subsequently overlaid by a turf-cored rampart 8.0m wide and over 3.0m high. Stone revetments were later added to this at two levels. Radiocarbon age estimates from the wickerwork of the palisade give a calibrated date of 630 - 770 AD. It seems highly likely that this was a secular fortification -hence the 'burg' name - built shortly before the founding of the monastery.

The turf rampart could be the monastic vallum of that foundation.

L Alcock and E A Alcock 1980; L Alcock 1981.

NT 87 70 to NT 91 67 An archaeological survey was undertaken by Headland Archaeology Ltd of land owned by the National Trust for Scotland at St Abb's Head, Lumsdaine Shore and Blackpotts.

A total of 18 features, or groups of features, of archaeological and historical interest were recorded, ten already documented, at least in part, in NMRS records.

NT 9161 6874 Monastic settlement, church (NT 96 NW 5; 9; 17)

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, National Trust for Scotland

S Carter 1997.

NT 9161 6874 As part of the survey conducted by Headland Archaeology Ltd on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland on its land at and near St Abb's Head, mentioned above (S Carter 1997), this site was examined and recorded. The report says the site is as previously described. The visible remains comprise a bank running around the landward edge of the hill top, the remains of the church set within a rectangular enclosure on the cliff edge and up to four other rectangular structures of uncertain date. Cultivation rigs are visible on the NW part of the site, these are part of the more extensive cultivation of the Kirk Hill mapped in 1782 (Plan of Northfield, Scottish Record Office, RHP 43284). The hill top is covered with grass that is grazed very close towards the cliff top. Most of the interior of the monastic enclosure is undistrurbed although moles are clearly present. The enclosure around the church is stable apart for one section of the N side which has been heavily burrowed by rabbits. The church itself is stable apart from one closely grazed area on the N side where there is a concentration of rabbit scrapes. The monastic enclosure bank that surrounds the site is seriously affected by burrowing rabbits, there is evidence for significant loss of sediment from the bank. This situation was noticed by Alcocks in the 1980's and may be increasing. The report puts forward two possible solutions ot the problems:

1) Permanent total exclusion and eradication of rabbits from the enclosure, followed by repair of the the damage to the bank

2) Significant reduction of the rabbit populaiton on the headland as a whole to stop any further spread of the damge, supported by selctive archaeological excavation of the bank to increase understanding of this structure before further loss of information.

Continued monitoring of the mole activity is also recommended.

Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland, Historic Scotland

NMRS MS/899/44 (Headland Archaeology Ltd. 16/10/1997)

An earth resistance survey was carried out on Kirk Hill by the Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society (EAFS) on 18th and 19th April 2011 (Rhodes 2011). An area around the church, its rectangular enclosure and a nearby rectangular building were targeted.

EAFS used a TR/CIA meter to collect data at a probe separation of 0.5m with readings collected at a sample interval of 1m along transects spaced 1m apart over grids measuring 20m x 20m. They downloaded the data using a program called “Resistivity” and processed the data using the free software “Snuffler”. The quality of data collected was high and revealed the remains of the Kirk and its enclosure boundary as high resistance anomalies with the rectangular building also showing higher values. The layout of the Kirk was suggested to be more complex than first thought and some additional anomalies of possible archaeological interest were identified to the north of this building.

Report: RCAHMS, Scottish Borders Council and the National Trust for Scotland

Funder: EAFS; Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust

Edinburgh Archaeological Field Survey, 2011

A detailed gradiometer and earth resistance survey was conducted over the site of Kirk Hill, St Abb’s Head, Berwickshire. The site has previously been identified as the location of an enclosed medieval church. To the west of the church and its rectangular enclosure a larger ‘C’ shaped bank incorporates the church, its enclosure and a number of possible structures. This site has tentatively been identified as the location of St Æbbe’s monastery mentioned by Bede.

The gradiometer survey covered approximately 1.75ha and demonstrated the presence of extensive archaeological features within the ‘C’ shaped enclosure. The earth resistance survey covered 0.43ha and identified anomalies of archaeological interest.

The medieval church and its accompanying rectangular enclosure were identified in both the earth resistance and gradiometer data. A rectangular stone building was identified to the west of the enclosure and another possible structure was identified to its north in the gradiometer data. A number of linear anomalies were identified in the southern portion of the gradiometer survey area; putatively identified as boundaries with two possible structures constructed against them.

An earth resistance survey was conducted over the site of Kirk Hill, St Abb’s Head, Berwickshire. The earth resistance survey covered 0.43ha and identified anomalies of archaeological interest.

A detailed gradiometer survey was conducted over the site of Kirk Hill, St Abb’s Head, Berwickshire. The gradiometer survey covered approximately 1.75ha and demonstrated the presence of extensive archaeological features within the ‘C’ shaped enclosure.

This fort occupies the summit area of Kirk Hill, which forms the southern end of the spectacular coastal cliffs of St Abb's Head. The name of the hill alludes to the site of St Abb's Kirk, with a traditional association to St Aebbe, the abbess of a monastery named in early medieval documentary sources as Colodaesburg, a name which itself implies a fortified place (Alcock 1981a, 162-5; Alcock et al 1986); the monastery was accidently burnt down and subsequently deserted, probably not long after AD 681. Though there may still be some room for debate as to the precise location of this monastery, there can be no doubt that the Kirk Hill has been enclosed and fortified, and the remains of a rampart, surmounted by what is probably a post-medieval dyke can be traced in a broad arc around the lip of the summit, with its terminals resting on entrances where tracks mount the slope at the cliff-edge on the NW and SE respectively. The interior measures about 300m from NW to SE by 160m transversely (0.28ha), effectively embracing two promontories, the southern of which is almost detached by a deep running in from the seaward side. A trench excavated across the rampart on the NW revealed a complex sequence in which the inner of two palisade trenches had been cut through a previously cultivated soil, and superseded by a rampart of turf an clay, with its leading edge founded on a mass of pitched, dressed sandstone blocks; this rampart was subsequently thickened and revetted with a drystone face, giving it an overall thickness of some 8m and an eroded height of 3m (Alcok 1986, 268-73). There is no stratigraphic evidence to demonstrate the relationship between the two palisades, but the inner line had been burnt, and radiocarbon dates from its destruction provide a terminus post quem date for the construction of the rampart in the 6th-9th centuries AD. Apart from the church lying within its enclosure on the large northern portion of the interior, the footings of several rectangular buildings are visible, one on a large platform cut into the E side of the knoll forming the true summit, while others can be inferred from both parchmarks on aerial photographs and anomalies on a geophysical survey carried out in 2011, and mortar has also been recovered from molehills within the interior; the presence of timber buildings can also be inferred from post-holes and rock-cut trenches, apparently belonging to a rectangular structure lying parallel to the rampart, which were uncovered at the inner end of the excavation trench (Alcock 1986, 272). Survey has also revealed four or five shallow scooped platforms on the smaller southern portion of the interior. A small number of items of Roman date found on the Kirk Hill hint at a Roman Iron Age occupation, the only one that is stratified coming from the top of the cultivated soil beneath the rampart.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 25 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4150