Alternative Names Wester Gormyre
Site type ENCLOSURE(S), RIG AND FURROW
Canmore ID 47956
Site Number NS97SE 5
NGR NS 9761 7267
Council WEST LOTHIAN
Parish TORPHICHEN
Former Region LOTHIAN
Former District WEST LOTHIAN
Former County WEST LOTHIAN

Canmore Mapping
View this site on a map

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Archaeological Notes

NS97SE 5 9761 7267

See also NS97SE 95.

(NS 9761 7267) Camp (R) (Supposed Roman)
OS 6" map (1922)

A nearly square enclosure on Gormyre Hill, known locally as the 'Roman Camp'. Its outline is now very faint, consisting of an earthen bank c. 1' high. Nothing has been found in it, and there are no associated traditions.
Name Book 1854

Possibly the structure was no more than a cattle fold.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1923; MSS, 1953

The remains of a rectangular enclosure, consisting of a low earthen bank, near the summit of Gormyre Hill. It has been built on top of rig-and-furrow and is clearly of later date. Some 80.0m to the NE are the remains of a similar such structure. Neither of these is an antiquity.
Visited by OS (JP) 14 August 1974.

Notes and Activities

December 2008

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Notes This open-ended project that began in 2007 aims to photograph archaeological and potential archaeological
sites in West Lothian and to produce images that are readily accessible to those interested in the archaeology and history of the area. In some cases this may lead to more detailed archaeological investigations.
We take photographs with a camera suspended from a kite line at not more than 50m above the ground. Images are captured in visible channels and also in the near infra-red. We are also experimenting with digital ultra-violet photography.
NS 9761 7267 Gormyre Hill The top of the hill appears to show the remains of a circular feature, which contains an enclosure. Kite aerial photography in the visible spectrum, in low sunlight, with a covering of snow carried out in December 2008 has revealed that the enclosure has an internal structure.
For more details see www.armadale.org.uk/gormyre.htm
Archive: RCAHMS (Representative images)
Funder: Rosie Wells and John Wells

Further details

16 July 2009 to 31 October 2009

GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY

Notes NS 97587 72649 An area ground resistance survey was carried out 16 July–31 October 2009 over a hill-top site designated as ‘Camp – supposed Roman’ on early OS maps. The survey comprised nine 20 x 20m grids with the ‘camp’ filling the four squares in the SW corner. The topography of the site shows a square with internal N–S and E–W divisions. The survey revealed rows of circular high resistance areas aligned approximately N–S and E–W with, in places, eight in a line across the site. The five grids that surround the four ‘camp’ squares to the N and E do not have similar regular features. The N–S rig and furrow that appears to extend 100m to the
N on aerial photographs (OS/78/028 and OS/96/157) makes interpretation difficult. The nine grids could be seen to lie within a circular enclosure nearly 100m in diameter. The camp appears unlikely to be Roman but may be some form of palisaded settlement.
Archive: RCAHMS, West Lothian and WOSAS SMRs (intended)
Funder: EAFS, Dr John Wells
David Jones and Ian Hawkins – Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society

Further details

15 May 2010

MAGNETOMETRY

Notes NS 97587 72649
A magnetometry survey was carried out on 15 May 2010 on the site of a supposed ‘Roman Camp’ and an area of 2000sqm around it. The area had been ground resistance surveyed in 2009 (DES 2009, 179). Magnetic anomalies were distributed evenly over the 3600sqm surveyed, suggesting the detection of igneous
glacial erratics and indicating that the high resistances confined mainly to the ‘camp’ area are possibly due to human activity.
Archive: RCAHMS, West Lothian SMR and WOSAS (intended)
Funder: EAFS, West Lothian Archaeology Group and Dr P Morris 2010

Further details

Books and References

Jones and Hawkins, D and I (2009b) 'Gormyre Hill, West Lothian (Torphichen parish), geophysical survey', Discovery Excav Scot, New, vol.10 Cathedral Communications Limited, Wiltshire, England.
Page(s): 179

Jones and Hawkins, D and I (2010b) 'Gormyre Hill, West Lothian (Torphichen parish), geophysical survey', Discovery Excav Scot, New, vol.11 Cathedral Communications Limited, Wiltshire, England.
Page(s): 174

Ordnance Survey (Name Book) Object Name Books of the Ordnance Survey (6 inch and 1/2500 scale)
Page(s): Book No.55, 45 Held at RCAHMS Ref

RCAHMS (1929) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, Edinburgh
Page(s): 239, No.385 Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.INV/10

Wells and Wells, R and J (2009a) 'Kite aerial photography of archaeological sites in West Lothian: Gormyre Hill, West Lothian (Torphichen parish), aerial photographic survey', Discovery Excav Scot, New, vol.10 Cathedral Communications Limited, Wiltshire, England.
Page(s): 180

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