Hall Hill Mote
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Hall Hill Mote
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Hallhill
Canmore ID 65648
Site Number NX97NW 2
NGR NX 9059 7949
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/65648
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Kirkpatrick Irongray
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
NX97NW 2 9059 7949
(NX 9059 7949) Hall Hill Mote (NAT)
Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1969)
This fort, 235 ft by 110 ft, lies on a ridge of Hall Hill with precipitous northern slopes. It is defined on the E by a partly rock-cut ditch, about 18 ft wide, and on the W by a trench, now slight, and a rampart which projects along the S flank of the fort at the edge of a terrace about 8 ft above the base. Stones set into the scarp below the terrace may be revetting or debris from the rampart.
F R Coles 1893; RCAHMS 1914, visited 1912.
The remains of this fort are generally as described above. The rampart along the S flank is now reduced to a scarp. Within the fort is a raised oval area 40.0 m by about 12.0 m, defined by a much-reduced scarp. The trench at the W end is just discernible.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 30 June 1964.
Note (20 December 2013 - 23 May 2016)
This small fortification encloses a hillock on the NE shoulder of Hall Hill, taking advantage of the steep slope that falls away along the N flank of the hill. Oval on plan, it measures about 70m from E to W by 35m transversely (0.18ha), within a rampart reduced to a stony scarp some 2m in height, though it is unclear whether this extended, as Frederick Coles believed (1893, 112-15, fig 19), all the way round the foot of the hillock on the N, where an old track passes by. On the W, S and E the rampart was accompanied by an external ditch about 5m broad, and oblique aerial photographs also show traces of a ploughed-down counterscarp bank on the W and SW. A spur of the track on the N utilises the hollow of the ditch at the E end, leading round the foot of the hillock to sheds that also overlie its line on the SE. The position of the entrance is unknown. Within the interior the ground rises towards the level summit of the hillock, which is defined by a low scarp and measures 40m from E to W by 12m transversely.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0330
