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North Witch Point

Promontory Fort (Later Prehistoric)

Site Name North Witch Point

Classification Promontory Fort (Later Prehistoric)

Alternative Name(s) Portpatrick Post Office Radio Station

Canmore ID 60341

Site Number NW95SE 6

NGR NW 99435 54449

NGR Description Centre

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/60341

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

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Portpatrick
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Wigtown
  • Former County Wigtownshire

Archaeology Notes

NW95SE 6 9944 5444.

The approach to a coastal promontory, 45m NW of the Portpatrick Post Office Radio Station (NW95SE 33.00), has been cut off by an external ditch which extends to the edge of the cliffline and measures up to 5m wide and 1.3m deep; on the SE the ditch has an outer bank 3.5m thick and 0.6m high. A break in the line of the ditch on the NE may be an entrance or the result of later disturbance, possibly road construction. The roughly oval and uneven summit of the promontory measures 26m by 23m and stands to a height of 3.2m on the SE.

RCAHMS 1985, visited October 1984.

Activities

Note (15 November 2013 - 31 August 2016)

The defences of this fort cut off a coastal promontory, swinging in an arc across its neck on the N and down into a natural gully on the E and SE. On the N they comprise a low inner rampart little more than 0.3m high, with an external ditch up to 5m broad and 1.3m deep, but on the SE there is also an outer rampart some 3.5m in thickness and 0.6m in height. The entrance may be on the NE where there is a break in the line of the ditch. The oval interior occupies the uneven summit of the promontory and measures 26m from NE to SW by 23m transversely.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0123

Note (4 March 2022)

The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed and changed from PROMONTORY FORT (PERIOD UNASSIGNED)(POSSIBLE).

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