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Edgarton Mote

Fort (Prehistoric), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)

Site Name Edgarton Mote

Classification Fort (Prehistoric), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)

Canmore ID 64185

Site Number NX66SE 5

NGR NX 6733 6307

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/64185

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Balmaghie
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Stewartry
  • Former County Kirkcudbrightshire

Archaeology Notes

NX66SE 5 6733 6307.

(NX 6733 6307) Edgarton Mote (NR)

OS 6"map, (1958)

A fort (R W Feachem 1963) or small walled settlement (R W Feachem 1965) occupying the summit and flanks of a prominent knoll. The summit, measuring about 75' in length and 45' in breadth, has been defended by a much-mutilated wall, among the debris of which vitrefaction has been found. Outside this, several banks and ditches add to the defensive strength of the site and complete the strong resemblance, both in structure and situation, to Trusty's Hill (IA/?PR Fort - NX 588 561.) It is not known if the outworks are contemporary with or later than the summit enclosure.

RCAHMS 1914.

This appears to be a small ridge-type fort with rock-cut ditches at it's north and south ends. The terracing effect on the east slopes may be due to land slip and/or sheep-tracks. No trace of vitrified material was found. Name confirmed.

Re-surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 6 August 1968

Activities

Note (20 December 2013 - 23 May 2016)

This small fortification occupies a steep-sided hillock on a low ridge, comprising a small enclosure on the summit with outworks on the N and S, the latter apparently forming a subsidiary enclosure or annexe on the flank of the knoll. Oval on plan, the innermost enclosure measures about 22m from N to S by little more than 13m transversely (0.02ha) within a mutilated stone wall; the entrance may have been in the southern end, served by a trackway that can be seen climbing the W flank of the hillock. At the foot of the hillock on the N a ditch some 4.8m in breadth by 3m in depth cuts through the spine of the ridge, while a similar feature is cut some 1.2m deep below the external ground surface on the S. Here, however, there seems to be a rampart on the slope above, forming the leading edge of what may be a partly quarried terrace about 10m below the level of the summit and up to 3.5m above the bottom of the ditch; the terrace measures about 16m from E to W by 8.5m transversely, and while its eastern end fades onto a terrace that a later OS investigator considered to be natural near the foot of the E flank of the hillock, its western end is formed by a wall of living rock. In 1911 RCAHMS investigators found several pieces of vitrified stone amongst tumbled stones towards the foot of the hillock on the E.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0261

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