Cairnbank

Cropmarks have revealed the site of a fort or fortified settlement on the crest of a low rise ENE of Cairnbank house. Oval on plan, it measures about 85m from ENE to WSW by 60m transversely (0.4ha), within a narrow inner ditch no more than 1.5m in breadth, set some 6m within the line of a broad outer ditch between 4m and 6m across. An entrance causeway 11m wide in the outer ditch on the WSW leads to a slightly narrower gap of about 9m in the inner ditch and there are clearly traces of wear extending through the entrance into the interior. The opposed end of the enclosure lies in the neighbouring field of pasture and though the perimeter can be traced a short distance through the grass it is unclear whether there is a second entrance in this end. No trace of the ramparts can be detected on the aerial photographs, but the breadth of the WSW entrance suggests that the outer ditch may have been accompanied by inner and outer ramparts that returned and united around the terminals of the entrance causeway. Equally uncertain is the relationship of the two ditches, the comparatively minor scale of the inner perhaps suggesting that the outer was once a free-standing enclosure; if so its interior may have been a little larger, perhaps about 0.48ha. Several small maculae are present in the southern part of the interior, though none is certainly the remains of a round-house.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4056

The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.

Visibility: This site is visible as a cropmark.

Information from Scottish Borders Council