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Laggan Camp

Fort (Prehistoric)

Site Name Laggan Camp

Classification Fort (Prehistoric)

Canmore ID 62668

Site Number NX33NE 3

NGR NX 3976 3725

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/62668

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

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

Archaeology Notes

NX33NE 3 3976 3725

(NX 3976 3725) Laggan Camp (NR)

OS 6" map (1957).

Laggan Camp: Fort - This pear-shaped fort occupies a strong position on the summit of a steep-sided hillock, connected to Carleton Fell on the NW. It is defended by double ramparts and a medial ditch, drawn round the flanks of the hill. The ramparts were probably earth- works, now mostly reduced to terraces. The top of the hill has a well-defined margin which might be expected to have carried an inner rampart, though there was no trace of one in 1951. The entrance is on the W, where the terraces are 12' wide, one 8' below the other. At the E end, the ditch is 20' wide, 5' below the crest of the scarp, with the external rampart visible as a mound.

RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911; RCAHMS TS., visited 1951; R W Feachem 1956.

Generally as described. The enclosure area measures 76.0m NE-SW by 57.0m NW-SE. A slight stony scarp is suggestive of an inner rampart around the summit of the hill, whilst on the E is a possible internal quarry ditch. An old field bank crosses the site from N-S otherwise the interior is featureless.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (DWR), 1 February 1973.

Activities

Field Visit (6 July 1911)

Hill Fort, near Laggan Loch.

On an isolated, round, low hill, rising to an elevation of some 250' above sea level, separated from the S. cliffs of Carleton Fell by a narrow glen, is. the Laggan Camp, probably an earthwork. The flanks of the hillock are steep all round, except where a neck towards the NW. connects it with the Fell. The enceinte upon the summit has been circular. On the ridge of the hill at the E. end is a ditch some 20' wide, and 5' below the crest of the scarp, with a mound to the outside. Along the sides and also on the N. the remains of the defences are slight and ill defined. At the NW., where appears to have been the entrance, the defences have consisted of two terraces about 12' wide, one about 8' below the other. The situation is by nature strong and secluded, sheltered on the N. by the craggy face of Carleton Fell, towering 200' above it, and on the W. covered by a small loch lying at the base of the hillock. It looks out to sea, and is separated from the shore by, the steep heughs.

O.M.S., WIGTOWN, xxxv. NW. ("Camp").

Visited 6th July 1911.

Field Visit (1 September 1951)

This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.

Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.

Note (20 December 2013 - 4 August 2016)

This fort is situated on a hillock that rises from the foot of the S slopes of the Fell of Carleton. Oval on plan, it measures about 65m from NE to SW by 55m transversely (0.3ha) within twin earthen ramparts with a medial ditch, which have been drawn around the flanks of the hillock and for most of the circuit give the impression of two terraces about 3.5m broad with the outer up to 2.4m below the crest of the inner. Where best preserved, on the NE, the ditch is about 6m in breadth by 1.5m in depth. The margin of the summit of the hillock is fairly sharply defined and this may hide a ploughed down inner enclosure measuring about 40m in overall diameter, though whether this formed part of the defences of the fort or is perhaps a later settlement is not known. Traces of straight improvement-period rigs extend across the whole site from NNE to SSW.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 04 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0216

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