Wallace's Knowe
Earthwork (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Wallace's Knowe
Classification Earthwork (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 44793
Site Number NS63NW 5
NGR NS 6114 3798
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/44793
- Council East Ayrshire
- Parish Loudoun
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kilmarnock And Loudoun
- Former County Ayrshire
NS63NW 5 6114 3798.
(NS 6114 3798) Fort (NR)
OS 25" map (1969)
The remains of this small fort occupy Wallace's Knowe, overlooking the Irvine Water. About 1875 it was almost perfect, but at that time the farmer levelled the rampart and nearly filled in the ditch.
J Smith 1895; Name Book 1856
Wallace's Knowe is a flat-topped spur projecting into the valley of the River Irvine and cut off on the land (W) side by a now shallow ditch. The level interior measures 25.0m E-W by 20.0m, and a very slight rise above the ditch indicates the remains of a possible rampart. The ditch is 10.0m wide on the W, and 0.1m below the top of the spur, and there is the vague suggestion of a causewayed entrance.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (JLD) 15 August 1956 and (RD) 17 March 1966
The possibility that this is a Roman fortlet is supported by the alignment of N-S hollow ways and by a wide, cobbled substratum sectioned by the Irvine Water some 200 yds upstream.
F Newall 1966
This earthwork is generally as described. It is not a Roman fortlet as suggested by Newall nor are the features he describes. Its position and form are indicative of a (?Iron Age) homestead (cf NS53NE 6).
Visited by OS (MJF) 18 July 1978