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Green Humbleton

Fort (Prehistoric)

Site Name Green Humbleton

Classification Fort (Prehistoric)

Canmore ID 59283

Site Number NT82NW 22

NGR NT 8456 2764

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/59283

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

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

Archaeology Notes

NT82NW 22 8456 2764.

(Centre: NT 8456 2764) Fort (OE)

OS 6"map, Roxburghshire, (1923).

Fort, Green Humbleton. Around the summit of Green Humbleton, a blunted cone rising on the right bank of the Halter Burn to an elevation of 937ft, a double line of walling has been drawn to form a fort. The summit tilts towards the S, its N end rising in an outcrop of rock, naturally terraced to N and W. But while the rock no doubt provided material for the walls, it played no part in the defences. Both walls are dry-built in coursed masonry about 6ft thick, and are now extremely dilapidated, the amount of fallen material showing that they must once have risen to a considerable height. The inner wall runs at the edge of the terrace, from 5ft to 10ft below the actual summit. The outer one is from 5ft to 7ft lower down the slope and from 30ft to 50ft beyond the first. Between them there runs a ditch, but its size cannot be stated as the interval today appears only as a terrace from 5ft to 38ft broad. The fort thus enclosed is pear-shaped, with the narrow end to the N, and measures 293ft from N to S by 200ft from E to W. It is approached from the SE by way of the col that connects Green Humbleton with Stob Rig. Leaving the col, the access breasts a short, steep slope and turns left-handed to pass through a gap 9ft wide in the SE arc of the outer wall, in which lies a boulder measuring 4ft by 1ft by 2ft, probably part of one of the jambs of the gate. The corresponding entrance, 15ft wide, in the inner wall is not directly opposite the outer gap, but to the right of it. No trace of buildings can be seen in the interior of the fort. See RCAHMS 1956, Plan fig.597.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 8 August 1938.

The fort is as described.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS(EGC) 6 December 1967.

Activities

Note (23 September 2015 - 18 May 2016)

This fort crowns the summit of Green Humbleton, which rise abruptly between Humbleton Sike and the Shielknowe Burn, the only easy line of approach being across the broad saddle that connects it to Stob Rig on the SE. Roughly oval on plan, the interior measures about 88m from N to S by 61m transversely. The defences comprise two ramparts forming slightly eccentric circuits and in the opinion of RCAHMS investigators in 1938 separated by a ditch, though in practice this seems to be no more than traces of surfacing quarrying to the rear of the outer rampart; the outcrops behind the inner rampart on the NW have probably been quarried also. The entrance on the SE is designed to expose the approaching visitor's left side, both by the slightly staggered gaps in the two ramparts and by the overlapping terminals of the outer rampart. The survey drawn up by RCAHMS in 1938 did not identify any internal features, but satellite imagery suggests there may be several ring-grooves present, the most clearly defined on the SE immediately within the entrance.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3496

Sbc Note

Visibility: This is an upstanding earthwork or monument.

Information from Scottish Borders Council

References

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