Castlelaw Hillfort : Places in Ancient Lothian

► hillfort with souterrain and beehive chamber

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Castlelaw is located on the South-east end of the Pentland Hills, to the West of Easter Howgate and Glencorse, just off the A72, South of the Edinburgh City Bypass. Below the summit of Castlelaw Hill itself is a hillock on which the well-preserved remains of a fort and souterrain are still visible. Castlelaw was excavated in 1931, 1932 and 1948, the results of which suggested that the terracing of the fort was the result of three phases of construction, with the inner rampart being made of yellow clay, reinforced in some places by wooden structures. The whole is oval in shape, roughly measuring 90 x 45 metres. The multivallate form of the site is obvious, especially from the hill to the North:

Castlelaw, Looking South

It is conjectured that all three phases predate Roman incursions into Lothian territory, placing the construction of the ramparts and terraces before the Common Era, but squarely within the period of Brythonic occupation under the kingdom of Gododdin.

North-side Terrace, Looking West

Double-terracing, North-side, Looking South-west

According to Gordon Childe, who was involved with the excavations in the 1930s, the discovery of wooden reinforcement in these structures was particularly significant at the time:

the structure... shows a continuity with British military architecture as illustrated in southern England in La Tène times. Indeed the demonstration of the part played by timber construction in our earth or rubble forts, a part long recognised in England and Germany, is perhaps the most important result of the 1932 excavations for Scottish archæology. Clearly the extant banks represent but a paltry fraction of the original defences. We must imagine [the] Middle Bank as a formidable defence towering steeply above invaders with its wood-revetted face.[1]

North-side Terracing, Looking East

To the West, the fort is protected by the Pentland Hills which form a natural land-barrier to troop movements, while its position also affords it a long-range view across the relatively flat Eastern section of Lothian out towards Traprain Law.

Northern Terracing, Looking West

On the Southern side of the fort, the indented remains of a gate area can still be seen, cutting through one of the encircling ridges, although possible entrances also exist on the East and West sides.

Looking North Towards the Centre, Across the Gate in the Southern Terracing

Childe also claimed to have found the remains of a small hut-circle within the Western end of the inner ramparts.^[2]

The souterrain in the centre of the fort is thought to date from around the C3rd AD, after the fort as such was in use. According to Childe:

It is clear that at Castlelaw the Earth-house is not an integral part of the fort as at Dunsinnan and in Irish raths. It is later than the fort and represents a different idea - retreat instead of resistance. As such structures are exceptional south of the Forth but common in Aberdeen and Angus, the new idea and its embodiment on the Pentlands were probably due to an infiltration of people from the north-eastern counties, similar to but later than that which planted three brochs in the Lowlands.[3]

However, the questions of Pictish incursions into and occupations of Lothian have never been satisfactorily settled.

Entrance to the Soutterain, Looking South

Entrance to the Souterrain, Looking South

The Passage Inside the Souterrain

The remaining internal structure of the souterrain today consists of a single passageway leading to a circular inner beehive chamber.

Doorway into the Inner Chamber

Looking out of the Inner Chamber

Excavation of the souterrain has yielded many finds of charcoal, broken animal bones, iron and bronze objects, pottery, glassware, ornaments, stone balls, armlets, and enamelled brooches, mainly from the C2nd, and including some Roman Samian ware. It would seem, then, that the occupants of this phase of the site were, to an extent, Romanised Britons.

Footnotes

[1] Gordon Childe, "Excavations at Castlelaw Fort, Midlothian", in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.LXVII, 1932-1933, p.387.

[2] ibid., p.362.

[3] ibid., pp.386-387.

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