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Dormount Hope

Deer Trap (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Dormount Hope

Classification Deer Trap (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 318822

Site Number NT71SE 218

NGR NT 79797 12744

NGR Description NT 79361 13962 to NT 80123 13784

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/318822

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Scottish Borders, The
  • Parish Hownam
  • Former Region Borders
  • Former District Roxburgh
  • Former County Roxburghshire

Archaeology Notes

NT81SW21 8010 1287 to 7877 1255.

(NT 8010 1287 - NT 7877 1255) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6"map, (1962).

Linear Earthwork and Wall, Broad Law to Raeshaw Fell:

Although this work consists of four sections which differ in certain respects, it should be regarded as a single unit, extending in all to a length of 1 mile 7 furlongs.

The first section, 230 yds long, is an earthwork of rather massive proportions, starting on a flat shelf 180 yds ENE of the summit of Broad Law, and mounting the slope. At the bottom the work consists of a bank of earth and small stones, 12' thick and standing 2' high, with a ditch 12' wide and 2' deep on its SW side. In its upper part there is a shallow borrow-ditch as well on what is here the N side. At spot height 1440 the work changes both in character and in direction, taking the form of a drystone wall, well built of coursed masonry and without orthostats. However, due to the manner in which it flanks a rather steeply rising slope, the wall in its present condition appears more as a revetment than as a free-standing construction. Where best preserved it shows seven main courses in a height of 4' of wall-face. The wall runs generally SE, diverging from the modern fence so as to keep below the lip of the slopes descending to Dormount Hope, though cutting off the projecting feature known as The Kip, and ends on the NW side of the head of a narrow transverse gully about 150 yds short of the Border. Rather less than 200 yds NW of this end the wall is pierced by an opening, perhaps originally 6' wide but now widenened by the collapse of the large squared stones that formed its jambs; no track passes through the opening, but a small excavation has been made in the hill-face that rises outside it.

The third section is separated from the second by the gully just mentioned. Bank and ditch construction is here resumed, though as the ditch is on the downhill side it is apt to assume the appearance of a terrace where the slope is pronounced. The terrace sometimes shows a hollow along the base of the bank, and where a true ditch exists it is about 5' wide and up to 1' deep; at one point a borrow-ditch appears above the bank and the whole work is here at least 24' wide. From its point of origin this section runs generally SW for some 700 yds and then W for the same distance, following the irregularities of t the lip of Dormount Hope; it is pierced at two points by the tracks of an old road. The fourth section is again a ditch with a bank on the uphill side, but as the ground is here rising from SE to NW instead of falling from S to N, the positions of bank and ditch are reversed in the two adjoining sections. The bank is separated from the end of the third section, at the head of Dormount Cleuch, by a gap 30 yds wide, formed by the old road and a marshy hollow; the ditch, however, extends into the hollow for some 10 yds, while the gap has evidently been enlarged by traffic on the road. There is little reason to doubt the continuity of sections three and four. The fourth section is about 700 yds long, ending on the steep lip of Scraesburgh Hope. At its NE end the bank is 10' thick and stands 6' above the bottom of the ditch, which is up to 6' wide; these dimensions decrease on the flatter ground, where, however, some traces of a spoil mound can also be seen on the SE side of the ditch. Just short of its SW end the ditch shrinks to a mere notch.

The original purpose of this whole work is obscure.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1945.

As described above.

Visited by OS(JLD) 1 September 1960.

NT 8008 1377 - NT 7877 1255. An earthwork and wall as described by RCAHMS.

Visited by OS(BS) 1 September 1976.

Activities

Field Visit (1945)

Earthwork 'D' runs downhill, a little E of N, from the E end of 'C' (see NT71SE 10) to near Peelinick; its length is approximately 760 yds. It consists of a bank, 10' - 12' thick at the base and showing traces of stones here and there in its face, with a ditch up to 5' wide on its E or downhill side. Owing to the steepness of the slope on the lip of which it stands, the top of the bank rises in places as much as 6' above the bottom of the ditch. The position of the bank on the W side of the ditch suggests that this work may have been intended to prevent the egress of animals from Dormount Hope, but there is a gap of about a quarter of a mile between the S end of 'D' and earthwork NT81SW , which breaks the continuity of a hypothetical enclosure-wall. Notwithstanding Mack's statement (J L Mack 1924) that there is in this stretch "clear evidence of yet another wall (possibly of turf)", there is actually no trace of anything beyond the deeply worn hollows of the old road, the ridges between which do in places superficially resemble a turf mound.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1945.

Field Visit (February 2000)

NT71SE 218

Dormont Hope

Deer Trap

NT 7970 1274

NT 79361 13962 to 79391 12821 (NT71SE 10 D); 79391 12821 to 80662 13208; 80664 13236 to 80123 13784 (NT81SW 21)

HOWNAM

The deer trap which has previously been recorded as two monuments, NT71SE 10 ('D') and NT81SW 21, comprises a bank and ditch with the ditch on the down-slope side and the bank still standing in places as a revetment up to 1.2m in height on the down-slope face. The bank and ditch encloses the head of the Dormont Hope valley, extending c.900m SE from the summit of Broad Law to the W flank of Lamb Hill, thence along the borderline for some 1320m to the W, turning N at Raeshaw Fell and extending a further 1120m to Peelinick. On Raeshaw Fell the bank is reused as a track for some of its length, particularly towards the S end, thus complicating the interpretation. At the S end of the Raeshaw Fell side of the trap, it is connected to the E-W bank that runs E along the borderline and is described under NT81SW 21. This and the character of the bank and ditch are confirmation that the two monuments are part of the same construction. The three other linear earthworks to the N of Raeshaw Fell are cross-ridge dykes, as is the bank and ditch to the S of Raeshaw Fell that runs from the SW corner of the deer trap to the steep edge of Scraesbrugh Hope on the W, originally interpreted as part of the same monument, but crossed by the deer trap dyke at that corner. The cross-ridge dykes to the N of Raeshaw Fell are also cut by the bank and ditch of the deer trap. The short gap at the SE corner (NT 8066 1322) where it is cut by a steep gully may be attributed its very steepness and erosion. The gaps in the bank and ditch on the S, noted by Barber (1999), are due to trackways cutting through it. The gate in the E arm noted by the Inventory (RCAHMS 1956) could not be confirmed as the dyke had been reduced to rubble in this sector. A stone-walled enclosure built on its W side at NT 8047 1335, where the bank is revetted with stone, has an opening on the S, and is probably secondary. As is a small earthen-banked enclosure at NT 8055 1328, which is constructed in the return of a bend in the dyke.

This is an example of a deer trap that is paralleled by those at Hermitage Castle (NY49NE 3) in Liddesdale and the N extension to the King’s Deer Park (NO67NE 10.01), Kincardine Castle, Kincardineshire.

Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) February 2000

Field Visit (April 2019)

NGR: NT 79821 12740 In April 2019 the authors revisited the earthwork recorded as a Deer Trap under the name Dormount Hope (Canmore ID: 318822, previously recorded as two separate sites: 59162 sections 1, 2 and 3 and 58063 Earthwork D) with the purpose of analysing its function and purpose and to see if any additional details should be recorded. The unity of the earthwork was confirmed and the descriptions in Canmore made in 2000. A record was made including photographic imagery and locations checked with handheld GPS. Analysis of aerial photographs revealed that the earthwork at its recorded NE end on Broad Law turns N towards the head of an unnamed sike that runs down to the Callaw Hope. The NW end runs out on the steep slope SW of the shepherd’s house at Peelinick. This appears to confirm its role as a deer trap rather than a deer park since no trace of it having been closed off to the north was detected.

A previously unrecorded irregular-shaped enclosure was observed to the S of the shepherd’s house at Peelinick, NGR NT 79453 14040, marked by low grass-covered banks. It is also visible on Bing Aerial photographs.

In addition to the above a new site was located at NT 79709 13706 by handheld GPS. At break of slope on the steep west face of Broad Law, there is a scooped enclosure and lines of cleared stone below it to the NW. A hut circle is situated at the SE side on a higher terrace above the yard of the enclosure which is about 12m across from north to south. The walls of the hut-circle are 1.2m across and it is about 4.5m in diameter internally with a possible entrance on the west where there is a dip in stonework. A later hut or pen has been built onto the enclosure bank on the SW, using stones from the enclosure bank. Beside it and on the south of the enclosure there is a gap which may mark the entrance.

Piers Dixon and John Gilbert

(Source: DES Vol 20)

Note (30 April 2021)

Part of the Deer Trap was previously recorded as NT81SW 21 and NT71SE 10.

Information from HES (AKK) 30 April 2021

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