Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Enzieholm, Bogle Walls

Fort (Iron Age) - (Medieval)

Site Name Enzieholm, Bogle Walls

Classification Fort (Iron Age) - (Medieval)

Canmore ID 67310

Site Number NY29SE 16

NGR NY 29248 91254

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/67310

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

Toggle Aerial | View on large map

Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Westerkirk
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Annandale And Eskdale
  • Former County Dumfries-shire

Archaeology Notes

NY29SE 16 2924 9124

(NY 2924 9124) Bogle Walls (NAT)

Ancient Earthwork (NAT)

OS 6" map (1957)

'Bogle Walls': fort, defended settlement. A V-shaped ditch, 42' wide and up to 12' deep, with an inner rampart 7'-8' high and a slight mound on the counterscarp cuts off a triangular promontory 120' x 144', the other two sides having the natural defences of the steep slope to the bank of the Esk on the N, and to a glen on the W. Entrance was past the W end of the rampart. Along the NE side where the rampart has apparently returned for some 40', there is evidence of a 5' thick stone wall and there are further indications of walling above the glen. Two depressions on the point probably mark hut sites.

RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912; RCAHMS Marginal Lands Survey TS, visited 1955; G Jobey 1971.

A strongly-built settlement, generally as described and planned. On top of the rampart, are the grass covered remains of a stone wall measuring about 1.0m in width and 0.3m high. The stone wall on the NE has been almost totally destroyed by stone robbing. The entrance to the settlement lies on the E. Depressions in the interior are probably quarry scoops.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (DWR) 8 October 1973

No change to previous field report.

Visited by OS (TRG) 5 September 1978

The generally sharp lines of this earthwork together with the formally arranged and levelled interior could well indicate it is of Medieval origin, although it does have certain affinities with other escarpment prehistoric settlements in the Borders, and has perhaps re-used in Medieval times to give the present well preserved appearance.

Visited by OS (TRG), 20 July 1981.

Scheduled as 'Bogle Walls, fort...'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 5 February 2010.

Activities

Field Visit (13 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 (July 1980)

Bogle Walls, Enzieholm NY 292 912 NY29SE 16

What is probably a medieval defensive work is situated on a promontory 350m ESE of Enzieholm farmhouse. A bank (7.6m thick and 1.8m high) and a broad external ditch cut off a wedge-shaped area measuring 43m by 40m.

RCAHMS 1980, visited July 1980

(RCAHMS 1920, pp. 215-16, No. 638; Jobey 1971, 92)

Note (1997)

NY 2924 9124 NY29SE 16

Listed earthwork (castle, possible).

RCAHMS 1997.

Note (30 June 2014 - 23 May 2016)

This earthwork is situated on the SW side of the valley of the River Esk, occupying a steep-sided promontory formed between the escarpment overlooking the haughland, and the gully of an unnamed tributary. Triangular on plan, the interior measures a maximum of 44m from N to S by 40m transversely (0.09ha), and is defended by a massive earthen rampart with an external ditch which have been drawn across the neck of the promontory on the S. The rampart measures up to 7.6m in thickness by 1.8m in height, and the ditch is 10m in breadth by over 2m in depth; there is also a counterscarp bank along its outer lip. Both Alexander Curle in 1912 and the OS in 1973 observed traces of a stone wall along the crest of the rampart, and there is also evidence of a robbed wall along the NE margin of the promontory. A causeway across the ditch at the NW margin of the promontory marks the position of the entrance.

The earthwork defences are unusually massive for such a small enclosure, which in 1980 first led RCAHMS investigators to review its classification as a fort and to speculate that there was perhaps a missing earthwork castle in this reach of the River Esk; the date of the defences can only be demonstrated by excavation.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1084

References

MyCanmore Image Contributions


Contribute an Image

MyCanmore Text Contributions