east-lothian-1924/05-176

Transcription

PRESTONKIRK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [PRESTONKIRK.

terrace has been defended by a wall (fig. 136)
built, as to its lower courses (which alone
remain), against the edge of the bank. Fig. 135
shows the northern flank with its lines of
fortification, so far as still visible from a
distance.
At certain places there may be picked out
indications, often vague and indefinite, of
another defensive system, which, to judge from
the worn and attenuated appearance of the
remains is possibly a more ancient one. The
summit-area of the hill lies parallel to the edge
of the south-eastern precipice, with no very
marked alteration in gradient from end to end.
Towards the south-western extremity, facing
the north, this area is bounded by an escarp-
ment broken up with masses of rock of sufficient
importance to be treated as a factor in a
scheme of fortification. At the southern ex-
tremity of the escarpment, just where a road-
way enters the summit-plateau, traces of an
ancient wall or rampart may be observed,
sometimes marked by upright stones and
sometimes by the debris, partially covered by
turf, forming excrescences on the surface. It
may be traced meandering along the edge of
the escarpment for a considerable distance, till
the rocky surface gives place to grass, when it
turns down over the haunch of the hill to
intersect the main rampart coming up from
below, just at the point where the latter makes
its higher deflection to the left, and proceeds
direct towards the north-east end of the hill.
On the upper side there is no actual contact
with two lines, but from the lower face of
the main rampart, the other, which is
presumed to be of earlier construction, is
distinctly visible curving for a short distance
farther down the hill and then along the flank
north-eastwards in a direction roughly parallel
to the main defence. At the point where the
upper portion of this ancient wall swerves to
proceed down the haunch of the hill, yet
another rampart of what appears to be the
primary system may be discerned. Starting
here it runs north-eastwards towards the ex-
tremity of the summit-plateau, roughly parallel
to and at a considerable higher level than the
main secondary defence, but fades away before
it actually attains the end of the hill.
Besides the entrance in the neighbourhood
of the quarry, four other gateways give access

96

to the enceinte, seemingly arranged in pairs.
Approached from the north-east, the eastmost
of the first pair occurs about 175 feet beyond
the point of deflection of the main rampart and
has been approached by a well-defended track
which winds up the lower escarpment. Through
the rampart, with a width of about 10 feet,
its course is oblique, pointing eastward, and,
when it opens on to the interior, it is flanked
to the westward by a rocky bank preventing
any easy access in that direction. Its neighbour
lies 130 feet farther on and is somewhat wider.
After an interval of some 340 feet the first
of the next pair is met, approached through a
deep hollow. The approach is faced on the
interior by a traverse of rock, which com-
pletely commands it from a height of some
10 to 12 feet above the solum of the gateway,
and around the ends of which the paths in
either direction must have turned. The
approach to the second is carried by an easy
gradient along the flank of a bluff, from the
crest of which it is overlooked, to the entrance
in the rampart about 12 feet in width. Run-
ning from it directly into the interior a roadway
can be discerned by the slight hollow which
marks its surface as well as by the occasional
occurrence of large stones set on end at one
side of its course, leading up the broad haunch,
which the hill presents at this point, to a dip
in the escarpment demarcating the summit-
plateau towards the south-west end on the
northern side. As this road approaches the
dip, a bifurcation may be observed, marked
out by occasional stones set on end protruding
from the turf and leading in a north-easterly
direction towards a fairly extensive plateau,
that lies just below the hill-top slope.
In the early summer of 1914 the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland commenced excava-
tions on this plateau. The site chosen lies some
100 feet below the summit with a general trend
from north to south and protected by rising
ground on its eastern flank. A branch road
seems to have run on to it at the southern end
from the main track that led to the summit.
A forest of nettles and the occurrence of a few
relics thrown up by the burrowing of rabbits
gave ample indications of previous occupation.
Work was continued in the summer of 1915,
but in the following year, owing to the circum-
stances of the war, the research had to be