Northshield Rings | |
Map Type: | Scotland Scottish Borders |
Map Size: | 200px |
Location: | Near Eddleston, Scotland |
Coordinates: | 55.7317°N -3.1844°W |
Gbgridref: | NT 257 493 |
Designation1: | Scheduled Monument |
Designation1 Number: | SM731 |
Epochs: | Iron Age |
Northshield Rings is a prehistoric site, a hillfort near the village of Eddleston and about 6miles north of Peebles, in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It is a Scheduled Monument.
The fort, on a rounded hill a short distance south of Portmore Loch, has well-preserved defences. There is an inner rampart, north-north-west to south-south-east by, enclosing an area of . There are two ramparts outside this. There are three entrances, in the north-west, south and south-east. Within the inner enclosure, seven slight depressions have been found, of diameter 6–, thought to be the sites of timber round-houses.
The inner rampart rises up to above the interior, and above an external ditch. The outer ramparts are more substantial, with external quarry-ditches, providing a defence up to deep. It is thought that there were at least two phases of construction; it has been supposed, since the space between the inner rampart and the outer defences is up to wide, which would not be there if defences had been strengthened working outwards, that the outer ramparts were built earlier.