east-lothian-1924/05-069

Transcription

ATHELSTANEFORD] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [ATHELSTANEFORD

the north, covering a distance of about 180 feet
in width, three to the south over a space of
95 feet and seven at the east and west ends.
There are two entrances, from the north-west
and from the east. The north-west entrance is
carried diagonally through the outer defences
in a south-easterly direction till it meets the
second wall from the inside, where it turns
sharply to the south between an overlap
in this defence, at which place the roadway is
14 feet wide ; it turns east and enters the
interior through a gap in the inner wall 16 feet
wide. The eastern entrance is along the
gradually sloping crest of the ridge ; its width
where it passes the second inner wall is

[Drawing inserted]
FIG. 48. - The Chesters, Drem, Sections (No. 13).

15 feet. In the interior of the fort traces of the
foundations of a large number of circular stone
buildings remain. They vary in size from 15
to 40 feet in diameter and occur chiefly along
the inside of the inner wall. In the New
Statistical Account of the parish it is stated,
for a time (1835) when these remains were
probably more clearly marked, that " The
houses, the foundations of which are still
obvious, had been built round the sides of the
summit in regular rows, and the greater part
in a conical form. In the centre are the
foundations of oblong houses of larger dimen-
sions. The conical houses are generally 12 feet
in diameter within the walls."

v. S.W. 31 March 1914.

14. Hill Fort, Skid Hill, Garleton Hills. -
About 1 1/4 miles south of the town of Haddington
lies the short range of the Garleton Hills, rising
about 600 feet above sea-level and overlooking
the whole of the central and northern portions
of the county. On Skid Hill, the highest point
in the range, some 600 yards east of the Hope-
toun Monument and 3/4 mile west of the fort
at Kae Heughs (No. 74), slight traces of
fortification are to be detected towards the
eastern end of the summit. The hill is strongly
defended by nature on three sides ; steep slopes
and rocky cliffs rise about 200 feet on the
northern side and about 100 feet on the east
and south, while to the west, from which
direction it is easiest of access, there is a sharp
fall of some 70 feet from the summit to the
hollow between it and a lower hill farther west.
Round the western curve of the hill, some 16
feet above the bottom of the hollow, there is
a terrace 30 feet wide in places, on the edge of
which there seems to have been a wall now
difficult to trace except at the south-west,
where the mound is 10 feet in breadth at the
base and rises 1 foot above the inner level.
About 22 feet higher up the steep slope there
are traces of an inner rampart. A gap 20 feet
wide near the southern extremity of the outer
defence seems to betoken the position of an
entrance, and the shoulder of the hill appears
to have been scarped to the eastern side of the
roadway leading to the entrance. A large
quarry, the Skid Hill Quarry, encroaches on
the southern side of the fort.

v. S. W. (Unnoted) 31 May 1913.

15. Hill Fort (supposed) Craigy Hill, Garleton
Hills. - Some 300 yards east-north-east of the
last site (No. 14) is an elevated rocky plateau
with very steep sides, rising some 500 feet above
sea-level, which seems to have been fortified.
It is somewhat oval in shape, the longer axis
running west-north-west and east-south-east,
and measures 300 feet in length by 130 feet
in breadth. While there are precipitous sides
30 to 40 feet high round the greater part of the
circumference, the slope below the rock falls
sharply for about 60 feet on the south and
100 feet on the northern flank. To the east
there is a narrow ridge, which slopes away
more gradually from the foot of the rock, and
to the west the fall from the rock is not more
than 20 feet. Round the foot of the rocks at
the western end and southern flank is a terrace
30 feet broad in places, which is not carried
round the east and north. For some distance
from the western end of the northern flank a
wall, 8 feet broad at the base and 2 feet high
on the inside, has been thrown up 10 feet from
the foot of the precipice, and this is continued
to a point opposite the north-west, where the
terrace on the west meets it some 90 feet from

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