Wester Pencaitland,fort and enclosure
A Scheduled Monument in Haddington and Lammermuir, East Lothian
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OS Grid: NT435685
Mapcode National: GBR 8054.0D
Mapcode Global: WH7V2.CS5M
Entry Name: Wester Pencaitland,fort and enclosure
Scheduled Date: 14 October 1993
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM5746
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: enclosure (domestic or defensive)
Location: Pencaitland
County: East Lothian
Electoral Ward: Haddington and Lammermuir
Traditional County: East Lothian
The monument comprises the remains of a fort and an adjacent enclosure of prehistoric date, represented by cropmarks visible on oblique aerial photographs.
Both the fort and enclosure occupy locally high ground in a rolling agricultural landscape much altered by modern drainage and a nineteenth century railway which truncates both features to the N. The fort is formed by two concentric annular ditches, the inner of which is approximately 8m wide and encloses an area some 110m in diameter. This inner ditch has a well-defined SE entrance. The outer ditch is narrower and less clearly defined. It encloses and area of approximately 130m in diameter.
Approximately 100m WNW of the fort lies an enclosure formed by a single annular ditch enclosing an area some 70m in diameter. Two thirds of the area of this enclosure is preserved, the remainder having been truncated by the adjacent, disused railway.
The area to be scheduled encompasses the visible features together with an area around them in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive. It is irregular in shape with maximum dimensions of 500m WNW-ESE by 190m as marked in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of Scheduling
The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to our understanding of prehistoric defended settlement. The fort and enclosure will both also contain evidence relating to prehistoric economy and environment. The relationships between the two features, both functional and chronological, will be of considerable importance for the study of the development of later prehistoric settlement in lowland Scotland.
RCAHMS records the monument as NT 46 NW 36 and 39.
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