Alternative Names The King's Park; Queen's Park; Dunsapie Crag; Dunsapie Loch
Site type FIELD BOUNDARY, FORT
Canmore ID 52510
Site Number NT27SE 49.00
NGR NT 2817 7316
Council EDINBURGH, CITY OF
Parish EDINBURGH (EDINBURGH, CITY OF)
Former Region LOTHIAN
Former District CITY OF EDINBURGH
Former County MIDLOTHIAN

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Archaeological Notes

NT27SE 49.00 2818 7315

NT27SE 49.01 2818 7315 stone mould

See also NT27SE 102.

(NT 2818 7315) Dunsapie (NAT) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, (1966)

(Location cited as NT 282 731). The remains of this fort crown the rocky hill which borders the E side of Dunsapie Loch. The walls have been most severely robbed of stone, but sufficient remains to show that originally the summit of the hill was bordered by a wall and the E flank by another. Whether they were contemporary might be determined by excavation, but there is no reason to suppose that they were not. The summit area measures about 350 ft [107m] by a maximum width of 200 ft [61m], being bordered on the W and N by precipitous crags and on the other sides by the spread remains of the inner wall. The outer wall is visible below the steep crags bordering the W margin of the summit, running thence S and E round the prolonged E toe of the hill, where the entrance lies. It runs NW from this, rising up the margin of the toe of the hill, until at a point 200 ft [61m] SE of the NE angle of the summit enclosure, it fades away as its line is replaced by steep crags. Several platforms in in the E part of the interior lying between the outer and inner walls suggest stances for Early Iron Age timber-framed houses.
R W Feachem 1963.

The fragmentary remains of a fort occupy the top of Dunsapie Crag. The crag declines in a steep grassy slope to the E, but is precipitous in other directions. A wall ran near the edge of the more precipitous parts, where it is now represented chiefly by footings and small stones, and along the top of the E slope, where it forms in places quite a massive bank. A pear-shaped area some 350' x 200' is enclosed. From the NE corner, a horn-work seems to have run downhill to crown a shoulder of rock: footings indicate a wall 9' thick. The shoulder overlooks a path which may therefore mark the original approach.
An outer wall is visible below the steep crags bordering the W margin of the summit, running thence S and E round the prolonged E side of the hill. It runs NW from this, rising up the margin of the toe of the hill until, at a point 200' SE of the NE angle of the summit enclosure, it fades away as its line is replaced by steep crags. Whether this wall and that on the summit were contemporary might be determined by excavation, but there is no reason to suppose that they were not (Feachem 1963). The outer wall thus forming a large annexe E of the fort. The entrance through the outer wall is in the NE, close to that of the inner. The only other gap in the outer wall is the demonstrably secondary entrance to the scooped enclosure noted on NT27SE 145.
Several platforms in the E part, between the outer and inner walls suggest stances for Early Iron Age timber-framed houses (Feachem 1963). The summit area is divided into three small areas by slightly different natural levels. That to the N is the largest and roughly circular. From a kitchen midden on it came a stone mould for casting rings and brooches, shells, animal bones, vitrified matter etc, which were donated to the NMAS in 1872 (Acc Nos: HR 15 - 39). The vitrified matter seems to have been the result of numerous fires kindled here and there over the area (PSAS 1873).
The other two summit levels are crescentic in form.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1873; R B K Stevenson 1949; RCAHMS 1951; R W Feachem 1963; R W Feachem 1965.

The fragmentary remains of this fort are generally as described. The entrance is in the NE. Internally numerous platforms may represent the sites of houses too indistinct for survey. A platform 12.0 x 8.0m exists in the S angle.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (S F S) 9 December 1975.

The defences of this fort are depicted at 1:5,550 on an archaeological map of Holyrood Park (RCAHMS 1999). The innermost line of defence encloses a pear-shaped area, and is defined for the most part by the footings of a stone wall extending along the edge of the precipitous crag, but on the E, where the ground drops less steeply, by a substantial grass-grown stony bank measuring 4m in thickness and up to 1m in external height. On the NE, a 4m break in the wall marks the position of the entrance, and coincides with the point through which a later field-bank extends SE down the slope (this field-bank may belong to the field-system described under NT27SE 3938). A row of four facing-stones set back a short distance from the NW angle of the crag probably belong to the inner face of the wall. Rock outcrops divide the interior into three levels, but no structures are visible within any of them.
An additional line of defence is visible below the wall on the W, where a stony scarp can be traced between two rock outcrops. On the E, there are also possible traces of an annexe occupying the gently sloping area dropping down from the wall. The N and S sides of the annexe are mainly defined by low outcrops, but a possible bank extends along the crest of the outcrop on the S and cuts northwards across the slope on the E immediately above an area of cultivation terraces (NT27SE 102). Here the annexe appears to overlie the lower side of a scooped settlement (NT27SE 145), although the entrance to the settlement forms a marked gap in its line. There are several other breaks in the annexe wall, some of which may be relatively modern and the result of erosion by footpaths. Within the annexe, several vague platforms can still be seen, none of which appear to be anything more than a small quarry scoop. The existence of the annexe can only be confirmed by excavation.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 15 December 1998.
NMRS, MS/726/96 (41-2, no. 16); RCAHMS 1999.

Feachem, R (1963b) A guide to prehistoric Scotland, London
Page(s): 135 Held at RCAHMS E.2.FEA

Feachem, R (1965) The North Britons: the prehistory of a Border people, London
Page(s): 171 Held at RCAHMS E.2.FEA

PSAS (1873) 'Donations to and purchases for the Museum', (And exhibits)', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.9 356-67,380-84,443-46,460-4,504-506,532-40
Page(s): 445