<< Our Photo Pages >> Norman's Castle - Stone Fort or Dun in Scotland in Scottish Borders
Submitted by SolarMegalith on Sunday, 18 November 2012 Page Views: 2278
Multi-periodSite Name: Norman's Castle Alternative Name: Laigh HillCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 2.93 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Scottish Borders Type: Stone Fort or Dun
Nearest Town: Moffat Nearest Village: Tweedsmuir / Drumelzier
Map Ref: NT11722915
Latitude: 55.548033N Longitude: 3.400755W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 12th Jul 2018 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Norman's Castle, Laigh Hill, Patervan: Strictly, I only saw this dun from a distance, as it was scramble to get to the top of the hill, and my fear of falling kept me on Laigh Hill settlement below. Husband, Andrew, with all the skills of a mountain goat, and no fear of heights, went tramping up with the camera. When he came back down he said: "Goodness knows why they live in such places - it's difficult to get into!" Presumably, raiders would have been deterred by the climb, so the settlers would have been well defended.
From Laigh Hill settlement below, a large rock protruding from the surrounding cliff face dominates, together with what looks like a cairn, but the scramble across the rocks to take a closer look was deemed a little tricky.
There are certainly 360 degree views all around this dun. Very little of the foundations could be seen, due to the high growth of bracken and overlying turf.
Ruins of an oval dun with preserved doorway and passageway. Read More at Canmore ID 49790.
This dun, known as 'Norman's Castle' lies above the Laigh Hill settlement, on the North West face of Laigh Hill. Excavated in 1959, Canmore describes the dun as being 25ft north-south by 18ft, within a dry stone wall 12 to 15ft in thickness.
"The entrance is on the S and measures 3' in width between side walls which survive, at one point, to a height of 4' in four courses. The E wall is straight, but the W wall is slightly curved; neither of them exhibits any traces of a door-check. The passageway, which is paved, appears to have been continued outwards for at least 7' beyond the line of the outer face of the dun wall. Owing to the steepness of the slope on which the dun stands, the E half of the interior has been terraced into the hillside, forming a steep scarp, 5'6" in height, between the level of the floor and the base of the wall."
Canmore adds that access to the dun is easiest around it's southern side. A bronze brooch dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD was found during the excavation.
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