Palisaded settlement on Hart Law

Excavation has demonstrated that at several sites the earthen defences were preceded by timber palisades. Palisaded enclosures are a rare monument type with fewer than 200 known examples. They are an important element of the later prehistoric settlement pattern and are important for any study of the developing use of defended settlements during the later prehistoric period. All identified surviving examples are believed to be nationally important.

The palisaded settlement on Hart Law survives reasonably well and retains significant archaeological deposits. As a rare monument type it will add to our knowledge of the construction, use and abandonment of such settlements. Taken together with other prehistoric remains in the vicinity, it will provide insight into the changing character of upland settlement and subsistence at this time.

The monument includes the upstanding and buried remains of a palisaded settlement of late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age date, situated on the summit of Hart Law. The sub-circular enclosure is approximately 97m in diameter within the low earthworks of a partial bank. In places the encircling bank has been levelled and is visible on aerial photographs as a cropmark. On the south side the settlement is afforded natural defence by steep slopes and in this area the surrounding bank is visible as an outward facing scarp. There are entrances on the north east, north and north west sides and there are intermittent traces of a double palisade trench around the perimeter spaced about 2.4m to 2.7m apart. Within the interior, a scarp standing to a maximum height of 0.8m, divides the interior into upper and lower parts. Also within the interior there are the remains of at least 20 circular ring-groove houses, which vary in diameter from 5.2m to 10m; many exhibit clear entrances and a slight outer bank. An Ordnance Survey triangulation point within the settlement is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath this feature is included.

Lying at 335m OD on the SE slopes of Hart Law, 1.25km to the SW of Prendwick, the earthwork and cropmarked remains of a palisaded enclosure of approximately 0.75ha. The site has the steep slopes of Hart Law to the S. Circular in plan, approximately 97m in diameter, it comprises a low, flattened bank in the N, E and W 0.1-0.2m high and intermittent traces of a double palisade trench around the perimeter, the ditches spaced approximately 2.4-2.7m apart. In the S the surrounding bank is visible as an outward facing scarp 1.3m high, formed from scarping the natural hillslope. In the SW it is made visible as a vegetational change. Breaks are visible in the NE, N and NW but the location of the original entrance is uncertain. Within the interior a bank 0.8m high follows the N and NE arc of enclosure which separates the summit from the lower scarp and divides the area into upper and lower sections. The relationship of this bank to the palisade is unclear. Twenty or more platform or ring groove houses have been recorded 5.2-10m in diameter many of which are contiguous and a large house can be seen to have replaced a smaller one. In some, entrances and a slight outer bank can be identified. Three houses lie within the lower section, one of which cuts into the inner bank. If scooped houses are present they are now masked by later quarrying. A break in the NE of the internal bank corresponds with that seen in the outer enclosure. Some quarrying has occurred and the site is now eroding. It is not recorded on OS mapping, Minimal investigations and undated. Scheduled as a palisaded settlement.

Source: Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk (CC BY-SA 4.0)