Description

The monument comprises the remains of a fort, dating from the Iron Age, with an overlying scooped settlement, probably dating from the first millennium AD. The fort lies in improved pasture on a SE-facing terrace, high above the Dryfe Water.

The fort occupies a relatively poor defensive position on the flank of Peat Hill. The earliest earthworks are those of a small, roughly oval fort measuring about 46m from NE to SW by 36m transversely, within the grass-covered remains of a stony rampart about 6m in thickness and up to 1.4m in height. There is an external ditch on the W side of the site, running from the N around to the SW, which measures about 4m in width and about 0.4m in depth. The original fort probably had two entrances, one on the NE and the other on the SW; the SW entrance has been reused by the overlying scooped settlement, while the NE entrance has been mutilated by later activity.

The scooped settlement has been superimposed on the SW end of the fort and has reused the line of the earlier rampart on the SW and SE. It is subrectangular on plan and measures 26.5m from NE to SW by 28.5m transversely, within a stony bank up to 2.7m in thickness and up to 1m in height. A small number of inner and outer facing-stones are visible, particularly at the S corner.

Traces of several building platforms, ring-grooves and ring-ditches can be seen within both the settlement and the fort, but, with the exception of an oval scooped platform truncated by the construction of the settlement on the NW, none can be attributed to either phase of enclosure with any certainty.

The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is sub-circular on plan and measures a maximum of 80m from N-S by 75m from E-W, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
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Source: Historic Environment Scotland