Balsalloch Hill
Fort (Prehistoric) - (Early Medieval)(Possible), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Site Name Balsalloch Hill
Classification Fort (Prehistoric) - (Early Medieval)(Possible), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 61991
Site Number NX18NW 5
NGR NX 1249 8894
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/61991
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Colmonell
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NX18NW 5 1249 8894.
NX 1249 8897. The slight remains of a fort, measuring 106m NE-SW by 82m, on the summit of Balsalloch Hill.
It appears to have consisted of two earth and stone rampart drawn round the contour on the N, S and SE, terminating in the steep natural slope on the NW.
Cultivation and erosion have now reduced the ramparts to scarps and in some places, particularly on the E, have completely destroyed them. The entrance was probably in the S where there is a clear break in both ramparts.
The interior is rugged, uneven and broken by outcrop rock and has extensive rig and furrow but no trace of huts (RCAHMS TS, 2 September 1954).
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 10 December 1970
No change to the previous field report (see 1:2500 plan).
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (JRL) 23 March 1977
(NX 1249 8897) Fort (NR)
OS 1:10000 map (1979)
Field Visit (2 September 1954)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
Reference (1957)
This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).
Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.
Field Visit (June 1981)
Balsalloch Hill NX 124 889 NX18NW 5
A series of scarps, which have been recorded as the defences of a fort enclosing the summit of Balsalloch Hill, are unconvincing as the remains of ramparts; they may be no more than the product of the rig-and-furrow cultivation which is visible on the summit and the flanks of the hill.
RCAHMS 1981, visited June 1981
Note (1 May 2014 - 23 May 2016)
This fort was first identified by Kenneth Steer from vertical aerial photographs in 1954, when it was described as 'some slight traces' enclosing the rugged summit area of Balsalloch Hill, which drops away steeply towards the coast along its NW flank. Oval on plan, it measures internally about 90m from NE to SW by 60m transversely (0.4ha). The RCAHMS investigators recognised the traces of rig and furrow cultivation in between the outcrops on the summit and along the flanks of the hill on the SE, but were nevertheless of the opinion that a crest line on the S side of the summit, and scarp between the outcrops on the NE, were the last vestiges of a rampart, while elsewhere on the S and SW they identified a levelled terrace that they believed had been prepared as its foundation, and suggested that scarps lower don the slope were probably the remains of other ramparts. Gaps on the S and NE were identified as possible entrances.
While accepted as a fort by OS surveyors in 1970 and 1977, and indeed surveyed at 1:2500 and 1:10,000, a subsequent visit by RCAHMS investigators in 1981, found this interpretation unconvincing, and were of the opinion that all the remains that were visible could be accounted for as a result of the rig cultivation, traces of which are visible all over the summit area and down the gentler flanks.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0790
