Houdston Hill
Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Houdston Hill
Classification Settlement (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 62052
Site Number NX19NE 27
NGR NX 19726 98320
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/62052
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Girvan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NX19NE 27 1972 9830.
NX 19726 98320
Enclosure, Houdston Hill: visible on RCAHMS air photographs.
NX 1972 9830. The air photographs show the cropmark of a semi-circular ditched enclosure about 70m in overall diameter. The ditch is a regular c.3m wide and has no entrance break; the interior appears to be featureless.
What appears to be the angled line of an old field boundary encloses the cropmark to the S, suggesting that the enclosure may have been substantially extant in relatively recent times. However, there is no surface trace of this enclosure on the N-facing crest of Houdston Hill at about 40m OD. It had almost certainly a complete sub-circular circuit; the gentle slope on the N side of a fence is under permanent pasture, while the field to the S is under plough.
The farmer at Houston farm reports nothing unusual here and has no knowledge of a former field boundary on the line indicated.
Visited by OS (JRL) 28 November 1980
Also photographed by Dr St Joseph in 1977, 1979 and 1980.
No Event (1983)
Houdston NX 197 983 NX19NE 27
Cropmarks reveal the SW half of an oval or circular enclosure about 400m NW of Houdston farmhouse; it measures 70m in maximum diameter within a ditch 4m broad.
RCAHMS 1983
Aerial Photographic Transcription (3 October 2011)
Note (2 May 2014 - 23 May 2016)
Situated on the northern shoulder of the broad rounded summit of Houdston Hill, only the SW half of this enclosure, has been recorded by cropmarks. Probably slightly oval on plan, it measures a maximum of 77m in diameter from NW to SE within a ditch some 4m in breadth; the interior may have extended to as much as 0.4ha. The position of the entrance is unknown.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0797
