east-lothian-1924/05-248

Transcription

YESTER.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN. -- [YESTER.

sunken way runs obliquely down the hill in a
north-easterly direction and joins a ditch of
about the same depth and width, also bounded
on either side by a broken rampart, some 30
yards from its northern end where it debouches
on the edge of the ravine through which flows
the Brookside Burn. This ditch lies north and
south and is cut across the lowest part of the
neck of the spur, its southern end dying out
on the hillside 190 yards from the fork made
by it and the sunken way.
The inner series of defences consist of four
ramparts on the south side of the north-western
entrance and three on the north side, placed at
varying distances apart. These ramparts vary
from 16 feet to 24 1/2 feet in width and 1 foot to
2 feet in height on the inside, and, while the
distance between the crests of the inner and
outer rampart is some 40 yards on the edge of
the scree, at the entrance it is about 25 yards.
The southern end of the third rampart from
the interior does not abut on the edge of the
scree but recurves inwards to meet the next
rampart some 15 feet from the verge. Of the
three ramparts to the north of the entrance
the inmost one recurves sharply inwards round
and across the north-eastern segment of the
fort, and the two others extend in a fairly
regular curve until they reach the oblique ditch
or sunken way on the north-east already
mentioned. The outer terminates at the
sunken way but the middle rampart, after a
gap of 10 feet, follows the crest of a steep slope
southwards for 130 feet, after which the
counterscarp swings round to form a circular
depression and meet the scarp of the inmost
rampart. There is a slight trench 6 feet 6
inches wide and about 1 foot deep along the
whole length of the exterior of the outmost
rampart of this inner series.
Crossing the interior some 95 feet from the
north-eastern end is a scarp 3 feet in height,
and about 65 feet in advance of it is a short
section of a parallel mound. In front of
the south-eastern end of the scarp is a circular
hollow 20 feet in diameter and 1 foot deep.
The measurements of the clear interior of
the fort are 250 feet in greatest length and
220 feet in greatest breadth, while the extreme
length between the outer ramparts is 740 feet
and the extreme breadth from scree to outmost
rampart 460 feet.

153

Hope (O.E.hop) is a small blind mountain
valley, especially one opening off a larger
valley or dale.

xv. S.E. and xvi. S.W. 28 September 1621.

258. Hill Fort, " Witches Knowe."-On the
summit of Witches Knowe, a small,
irregularly oval-shaped hill lying parallel to
the main range of the Lammermuirs but
joined to it on the south by a narrow neck
some 33 feet below the enceinte, and separated
from Highside Hill on the north by a narrow
cleugh with very steep sides dropping about
80 feet below, is a stone fort some 340 feet in
length by 130 feet in breadth internally, the
main axis running east-north-east and west-
south-west. The elevation is 900 feet above
sea-level. No defences are required along the
north flank, but to the south, from which it
could be assailed, there are three lines of
defence. The inner defence consists of a wall
now almost obliterated, 12 feet wide at the
foundation, rising 1 1/2 feet on the inside and
9 feet on the outside. This defence is carried
round the ends as a terrace 24 feet wide
steeply scarped on the outside. Some 36 feet
from the inner wall, and 11 feet lower, is a
second wall now overgrown with grass, 12
feet broad rising 2 feet on the inside, and, in
places, 5 1/2 feet on the outside, where there is
the suggestion of a ditch 6 feet wide. This
wall is built only along the flank and is not
continued round the ends, but its east and
west extremities recurve slightly outwards to
permit of an entrance to the south-east and
south-west corners of the enceinte. These
entrances are some 12 feet in width. The
outer defence has also been a stone wall, but
very little of it remains. Some 12 feet wide
at the base and rising only 1 foot above the
ground, it is placed 24 feet from the second
wall and 5 1/2 feet lower. The summit of the
fort is crowned by a small natural oval mound
on the edge of the steep slope of the cleugh
to the north, which rises 8 feet above the sur-
rounding level.

xv. S.W. 21 May 1913.

259. Fort, Kidlaw.-At an elevation of
900 feet above sea-level on the summit of a hill