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Shaw Hill, Calkin
Fort (Prehistoric), Scooped Settlement (Iron Age)
Site Name Shaw Hill, Calkin
Classification Fort (Prehistoric), Scooped Settlement (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Cauldkinefoot; Culkin
Canmore ID 67618
Site Number NY38NW 2
NGR NY 30445 88341
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/67618
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Westerkirk
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Annandale And Eskdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
NY38NW 2 3045 8834
(NY 3041 8833) Ancient Earthwork (NAT)
OS 6" map (1957)
This enclosure, listed by Jobey among 'Smaller Forts and Defended Settlements', is situated some 850ft OD, on the NE face of Shaw Hill. Oval on plan it measures 240ft NW-SE by 183ft transversely, surrounded by a stony mound, accompanied by a well-formed external ditch and counterscarp bank. The NE quadrant of the interior has been formed into an inner enclosure, bounded by a stony bank. There are entrances in the N, S and E; the RCAHMS also note a possible entrance in the W. Jobey adds there are traces of a possible secondary settlement, still with round, timber-built huts, within the original enclosure.
RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912; G Jobey 1971.
NY 3045 8834. This sub-oval settlement is very well preserved. The bank averages 1.7m high and the ditch is 1.1m deep. Jobey's plan is incorrectly oriented; the inner enclosure is in the NW quadrant with the entrance in the NW and a possible second entrance in the NE. The gaps in the SW and SE probably result from a track which crossed the site. (The NE hillslope and the orientation of the main axis, however, are correct). The sloping interior has minor hollow-ways, scarps and at least two scooped hut sites.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (MJF) 30 September 1979.
Field Visit (January 1981)
Shaw Hill, Calkin NY 304 883 NY38NW 2
On the sloping NE shoulder of Shaw Hill there is an oval settlement measuring 68m by 53m within double banks and medial ditch (up to 5.5m broad and 1.6m deep). Little trace of the outer bank survives on the uphill (WSW) side, where the ditch and inner bank are largest, and there are entrances on the NNW and ENE respectively. The NW quadrant of the interior has been incorporated into what is probably a secondary enclosure measuring 28m by 26m internally. RCAHMS 1981, visited January 1981
(RCAHMS 1920, p. 218, No. 647; Jobey 1971, 91-2)
Measured Survey (3 July 1991)
RCAHMS surveyed the fort at Shaw Hill, Calkin on 3 July 1991 with plane-table and self-reducing alidade at a scale of 1:500. The plan was redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:1000 (RCAHMS 1997, Fig. 171).
Field Visit (July 1993)
NY 3045 8834 NY38NW 2
A large oval ditched settlement, overlain by a small, scooped settlement, is situated on a narrow terrace on the NE flank of Shaw Hill. The earlier settlement measures about 70m from NW to SE by 53m transversely within twin banks and a medial ditch; the inner bank is up to 7m thick and 1m high, the ditch is 5.5m broad and 1m deep, and the outer bank (which is not present on the uphill, SW, side) is up to 4m thick and 0.5m high. At the entrances, on the NW and NE respectively, the banks return around the ends of the ditch to form hairpin terminals; a possible third entrance, on the SE, has been mutilated by a later track. Within the SE part of the interior there are the remains of at least three circular or oval timber-house platforms measuring up to 7m in diameter.
The scooped settlement occupies the NW quadrant of the interior and measures about 30m from NW to SE by 26m internally. Its perimeter reuses the inner bank of the earlier settlement on the N and W, while on the S and E it has been reduced by robbing to a low stony spread up to 4.5m thick and 0.6m high. However, the position of the entrance gap is clearly visible on the E, and from this a hollowed track, which effectively bisects the interior, leads towards the rear of the settlement. Within the SW part of the interior, which has been levelled into the slope at the rear, the positions of two circular house-platforms are indicated by low scarps.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), July 1993.
Listed as defended settlement.
RCAHMS 1997.
Note (3 July 2014 - 18 October 2016)
This fortified settlement occupies a broad, sloping, shelf on the NE spur of Shaw Hill. Oval on plan, it measures 70m from NW to SE by 53m transversely within twin ramparts with a medial ditch, though little trace of the outer rampart can be seen around the uphill, SW quarter, and elsewhere it has been severely reduced by post-medieval cultivation. Nevertheless, the inner rampart measures up to 7m in thickness by 1m in height, while the ditch is 5.5m in breadth and up to 1m in depth. There are four gaps in the defences, but only two, on the NE and NW respectively are certainly original, and at both the ramparts return around the terminals of the ditch. The gap on the SW is evidently a more recent break where a hollowed trackway descends the hill across the interior, and it is likely a gap on the SE has a similar origin, though it has also been mutilated by post-medieval cultivation. At least five house platforms can be seen within the interior, which has been deeply scooped into the slope on the SW; two of the platforms lie within a later enclosure which has been formed out of the W quadrant of the interior to enclose an area measuring about 30m from NW to SE by 26m transversely within a bank spread up to 4.5m in thickness by 0.6m in height; this enclosure is probably the remains of a late Iron Age settlement. The braided trackways on the spur above the fort show that this spur has been extensively used as a routeway, and it is notable that in addition to the fort itself there are two linear earthworks crossing the axis of the spur, respectively 195m and 280m up the slope to the SW.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1124
