White Hill
Fort (Period Unassigned), Linear Earthwork(S) (Period Unassigned), Palisaded Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Track(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name White Hill
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned), Linear Earthwork(S) (Period Unassigned), Palisaded Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Track(S) (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 48712
Site Number NT03SE 15
NGR NT 05500 33800
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/48712
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Broughton, Glenholm And Kilbucho
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Tweeddale
- Former County Peebles-shire
NT03SE 15 0550 3380.
(NT 0550 3380) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, (1967).
On the summit of White Hill there is a palisaded enclosure accompanied by secondary defences which were abandoned before completion.
The enclosure is oval on RCAHMS plan, fig.26, measuring 400' by 240' within two palisades (IA, IB) now represented on the surface by shallow grooves about 3' in width. The distance between them varies from 25' to 55'. Entrance gaps measuring 18' in width were left in both palisades at the NE and SW ends of the enclosure. Whereas the inner palisade (IA) is complete, considerable stretches of the outer one (IB) are not visible on the N and S sides, either because it was unfinished or because the trench has been completely filled up. The interior of the enclosure, which is covered with grass and heather, is featureless.
Outside the palisades there are three incomplete lines of defence (IIA, IIB, IIC). The innermost of these (IIA), consisting of a low upcast-bank with an external quarry-ditch, lies about 15' from the outer palisade. A sector of the bank on the S side, 260' in length, has not been completed, but a shallow trench dug to mark its course is visible.
There are two entrances, on the NE and SW respectively, in line with the entrances through the palisades.
A second line of defence (IIB) is represented on the W by a low bank with an external quarry-ditch, and on the SW and SE by two stretches of marker trench. The marker trench may originally have been continuous along the S side, the disappearance of the central sector being due to soil-creep on the steep slope; but there is no evidence on the surface that it ever continued on the E and N. The bank on the W has been formed mainly of upcast from the ditch, but additional material may have been derived from the occasional pits cut in the hill-side above it. About 40 yds from its S end there is an entrance, 12' in width, which is aligned with the corresponding entrances in IIA and in the palisaded enclosure. The third unfinished line of defence (IIC) lies on the W side of the hill, from 25' to 120' beyond IIB. It consists simply of a quarried terrace representing an early stage in the construction of a bank and ditch.
There are two contiguous quarry-pits just beyond its NE end.
RCAHMS 1967, visited 1957; D Christison 1887.
Generally as described and planned by the RCAHMS. Although no definite house sites are visible within the palisaded enclosure, its comparison with Hayhope Knowe (NT81NE 18) indicates that it is probably a settlement.
The existence of three lines of defence for the unfinished secondary defences on the W is indicative of a fort.
Visited by OS(WDJ) 13 March 1964 and (DWR) 11 August 1972.
Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1980.
RCAHMS AP catalogue 1980.
Scheduled as White Hill, fort.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 4 March 2002.
Measured Survey (19 February 2002 - 28 March 2002)
This survey was undertaken to document an unusual large enclosure, possibly defined by a palisade, noted from aerial photographs. The enclosure and surrounding area was surveyed by RCAHMS using GPS at a scale of 1:2500. Visited by Dave Cowley, Strat Halliday, Alex Hale, Ian Parker and Julie Candy [19th, 20th, 21st February and March 28th 2002].
Field Visit (28 March 2002)
This site, which crowns White Hill, the highest point of a narrow, steep-sided ridge, is a fort whose principle lines of enclosure have been timber palisades. These have been supplemented on the shallower slopes around the E, N and W by a dump rampart on which the palisade probably ran, and an external ditch. There is no reason from the visible earthworks to assume that this is an unfinished work and the 'marker trenches' identified previously are elements of the palisaded enclosures. Two linear earthworks on the nose of the ridge to the W of the fort cut across the easiest line of approach from the valley below. The innermost (IIB) forms part of a large enclosure (NT03SE 39) that takes in the greater part of White Hill. Two braided hollow trackways lead up the W end of White Hill; one runs through a gap in the innermost of the linear earthworks, while the other appears to be overlain by it.
Limited field survey in the interior of the fort has identified several new elements. An additional palisaded enclosure is visible in the interior of the fort, predating the previously recognized palisade IA (RCAHMS 1967). In addition the stances of at least eight timber houses have been identified. One (NT 0555 3380) clearly overlies a palisade (IA), while another (NT 0551 3385) may be cut by it.
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 28 March 2002
Note (6 October 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fort encloses the very highest part of White Hill, a long ridge which falls away sharply on all sides except the NE. Oval on plan, its defences comprises at least two roughly concentric lines of palisade trench and a low rampart with an external ditch, while traces of a third palisade trench can be seen within the interior and there are two outlying earthwork on the W flank. Palisade trenches are traditionally considered to be earlier than earthwork defences, but there is no evidence of the sequence here, and it is unknown whether they belong to successive enclosures or a contemporary scheme of defence. The two palisades range from 8m to apart along the flanks to 9m at the WSW end and 15m at the ENE end, and enclose an oval area measuring some 120m from ENE to WSW by 70m transversely 0.7ha. The second line of palisade trench takes in an overall area of 1.1ha, and the rampart and ditch immediately outside it 1.2ha; this latter is of relatively slight proportions, probably indicating a substantial timber component in its circuit, and what has previously been interpreted as a marker trench in an incomplete sector on the S is in reality more likely to be evidence of another palisade trench on its line. Entrances through the rampart and ditch in the middle of the ENE end, and offset a little N of its axis in the WSW end are matched by gaps in the two internal palisades. Within the interior, the most recent survey by RCAHMS detected traces of eight possible round-houses one of which overlies the inner of the two palisade trenches and another is possibly cut by it; in addition this palisade trench appears to cut eccentrically through an earlier palisaded enclosure. The relationship of the outlying earthworks on the W is unclear. The upper of them, which was first recorded by David Christison, was linked by RCAHMS investigators in 1957 with what they considered to be a marker trench on the slope below the fort on the S, and thus implicitly interpreted as an unfinished defensive work, but a combination of more recent aerial photography and fieldwork has demonstrated that these supposed marker trenches form elements in a much larger enclosure enclosing the whole of the crest of the ridge, of which the lower earthwork on the W is simply the most prominent sector; unique and extraordinary, this enclosure is just shy of 1km in length by between 100m and 150m in breadth. Evidently a hilltop enclosure, its date and purpose are unknown.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3561
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
