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Kittlegairy Burn
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Kittlegairy Burn
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Glenbield; Soonhope Burn; Glentress Forest
Canmore ID 51469
Site Number NT24SE 33
NGR NT 2749 4206
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/51469
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Peebles
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Tweeddale
- Former County Peebles-shire
NT24SE 33 2749 4206.
(NT 2749 4206) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1964)
This fort lies within a small clearing in the Glentress Forest and a forestry road passes immediately to the W of it.
The defences have consisted of two stone walls which enclose an area measuring 155' by 135'. They have been heavily damaged by stone-robbing and tree-felling, and much of what remains is now obscured by a thick covering of rough grass. Little survives of the outer wall round the W half of the fort, but on the E its debris appears as a stony bank accompanied by an outer ditch. Where best preserved, the bank stands 3' above the bottom of the ditch and 3'6" above the interior. Five outer facing-stones are still visible, the largest of them measuring 4' in length and one foot in height above ground. The inner wall, however, can still be traced for almost its entire circuit as a stony bank standing up to 2' in height. A number of its outer facing-stones remain, including an unbroken stretch of the wall face, 31' in length, on the ENE. These stones, like those in the outer wall, are large blocks, standing up to 1'6" in height. No inner facing-stones can be seen in either wall, but the dimensions of the core suggest that the walls had an original thickness of 8'-10'. The entrance is on the S and appears to have led obliquely through the defences. A modern track has enlarged the original passage and there is now a wide gap in the inner wall at this point. From the W end of this gap a stony bank runs obliquely across between the two walls, and within the gap itself there are two shallow semicircular depressions; in the absence of excavation it is impossible to determine the true nature of these features, but it seems likely that they are simply a by-product of the subsequent mutilation of the site. Within the interior on the SE a low scarp extends inside the inner wall for a distance of 80' uniting with it at either end. In this scarp there are a number of large boulders which do not appear to be in situ, and which are probably disloged facing-stones originally belonging to the inner wall. The remainder of the interior which rises 18' from W to E is featureless.
(Information from A McLaren notebook 1, 77)
RCAHMS 1967, visited 1960
Generally as described, this site is not in a defensive position and consists of a sub-circular enclosure with an annexe on the E. The interior is irregular and although there are no huts visible this is almost certainly a settlement.
Visited by OS (EGC) 8 May 1962 and (SFS) 1 October 1974.
Scheduled as Glenbield, fort.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 10 December 2001.
Note (21 October 2015 - 20 October 2016)
This fort or fortified settlement is set high on a spur descending between the Kittlegairy Burn on the S and the Common Burn on the N. The whole spur is sloping, falling away particularly steeply along either flank, and the fort occupies a point where the contours open out a little before the ground plunges on down to the Soonhope Burn on the W. Oval on plan, its defences comprise two ramparts forming inner and outer enclosures, and the outer rampart is accompanied by an external ditch across the most vulnerable line of approach from the higher ground to the SE. The inner enclosure measures internally 47m from NNE to SSW by 41m transversely (0.14ha), and its rampart displays a long run of large outer facing-stone on the ENE. Apart from a scarp dug into the slope behind the inner rampart on the SE, its interior is featureless, and the entrance, which has been heavily disturbed, is on the S, approached obliquely from the entrance through the outer rampart to expose the visitor's right side. The outer enclosure is considerably larger than the inner, with its rampart swinging on a wider arc across the spur on the SE to take in a roughly triangular area measuring about 70m from NE to SW by 60m transversely (0.3ha). The relationship between the inner and outer enclosures is unknown, and they may as easily represent successive enclosure as a unitary scheme, but at some stage the inner and outer ramparts have been linked to the W of the entrance.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3667
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
