Broxmouth (site of)

Broxmouth was a hill fort that was destroyed in the 1970s during the construction of a cement works.

The earliest evidence of human activity at Broxmouth dates back to around 3000 BC and there is evidence of sporadic occupation dating back to 2000 BC, however it is thought to have been continuously occupied from around 600 BC until the Romans left Scotland around 200 AD.

Initially a wooden stockade was built around the hilltop, which was later followed by a monumental timber roundhouse and auxiliary structures. Later the site was turned into a hill fort with the construction of ditches and ramparts.

The site was identified as a hill fort in 1956, and excavated in the 1970s. During the excavation archaeologists discovered a small cemetery containing nine burials just outside the outermost ditch of the fort. Four further burials were found within the fort. Most of the graves were lined and covered with stone slabs and aligned NNE to SSW, and some were quite elaborate suggesting that they may have been those of high status individuals. The bodies were mainly of men and women who are thought to have died in their early twenties, and some fragments of bones featured axe or sword wounds.

The fort seems to have been abandoned around 200 AD, which is around the time that the Romans left Scotland, which has led to the suggestion that the area became destabilised and was subject to attacks from the north.

During the late 1970s the fort was destroyed during the construction of the Oxwellmains Cement Works.