Bankburnfoot
Scooped Settlement (Iron Age)
Site Name Bankburnfoot
Classification Scooped Settlement (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 67305
Site Number NY29SE 11
NGR NY 26829 92530
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/67305
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Westerkirk
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Annandale And Eskdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
NY29SE 11 26829 92530
(NY 2682 9253) Earthwork (NR)
OS 6" map (1957).
Not to be confused with NY29SE 10.
Formerly entered in error within parish of Eskdalemuir.
An earth-and-stone rampart up to 9' high and with a suggestion of stonework along its crest forms an almost circular fort 184' E-W. On the W side is a trench about 26' wide, and some 30' further out is a second trench about 25' wide and 6' deep, which is carried to the edge of the Bankhead Burn. A trench-like hollow on the E side is probably natural. Entrance has been from the SW into a slight circular hollow within which is a water hole, possible a well. A triangular enclosure near the entrance and another on the E side are apparently secondary.
RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912.
Settlement. Although this site is not well- preserved, it is clearly scarped at the rear to provide a platform for huts and has an exterior drainage ditch, also the faintest indication of a forecourt. Later circular turf-built "pens" occur in and behind this settlement.
G Jobey 1971.
This settlement is generally as described and planned. The site has been afforested, obscuring any house sites in the interior. It is not clear whether the natural gully to the NW has been utilised as an outer work. Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 7 October 1973
No change to previous field report.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (BS) 17 October 1978.
Fort, NY 268 926. Planted and Ploughed.
A M Jackson 1978.
Field Visit (14 July 1955)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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.
Field Visit (August 1980)
Bankburnfoot NY 268 925 NY29SE 11
This settlement is situated in a forestry plantation 70m EN E of Bankburnfoot cottage. Oval on plan, it measures 53m by 49m within a bank which varies between 7.4m and 3.1m in thickness, and between 1.7m and 0.6m in height; there is a possible external ditch on the W. The entrance is on the SSW.
RCAHMS 1980, visited August 1980
(RCAHMS 1920, pp. 213-14, No. 633; Jobey 1971, 96)
Note (1997)
NY 2682 9253 NY29SE 11
Listed as settlement.
RCAHMS 1997.
