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White Hill

Hillfort

Fieldnotes

Following on from the excellent Mitchelhill Rings, I guess the White Hill enclosure had an awful lot to live up to in my perception. That, in my opinion, it does not - at least in terms of archaeology - is therefore no great shakes... and certainly no reason not to come and enjoy this well located, highly defensible hilltop. In fact I'd suggest the inherent natural strength of the site, the ground falling sharply away except to the north-east, may well have been the overriding factor in the relatively low-key, insubstantial ramparts to be found here. These, it would appear from excavation, were most probably designed to support a palisade as primary defence. Walking around the site I'm of the opinion that might well have been enough, an assumption the occupiers were no doubt more than qualified enough to make as their lives may well have depended upon it. Much more than I, of course

Anyway, enough of this supposition. According to Canmore the summit of White Hill is crowned by:

"...a fort whose principle lines of enclosure have been timber palisades. These have been supplemented on the shallower slopes around the E, N and W by a dump rampart on which the palisade probably ran, and an external ditch. There is no reason from the visible earthworks to assume that this is an unfinished work...Limited field survey in the interior of the fort has identified....An additional palisaded enclosure... is visible in the interior of the fort, predating the previously recognized palisade [RCAHMS (DCC) 28 March 2002]".

Archaeology aside, White Hill is a fabulous viewpoint, even taking into account today's murky conditions. I tell you these Border hills are really impressing me with their rounded contours and ethereal vibe. Not to mention the fact that almost every one seems to have been the home of people back in the day. OK, slight exaggeration, but a glance at Landranger 72 tells its own story. For example... looking south-east as I eat my lunch, tell tale, regular contours upon the hillside beyond give me cause to refer to the aformentioned map. Yeah, Cow Castle and subsidiary enclosures. Only the three?
GLADMAN Posted by GLADMAN
5th October 2013ce
Edited 7th October 2013ce

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