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Loddan is a fort of Iron Age date, situated in Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders. The site occupies a defensible position underlain by ancient volcanic bedrock, the unnamed extrusive rocks of Silurian to Devonian age that were formed during the Devonian period through successive flows of mafic lava interspersed with mafic tuff. This geological foundation would have provided a naturally robust platform for construction, with the hard volcanic stone offering both structural stability and potential for defensive quarrying.
The fort is scheduled for protection by Historic Environment Scotland under the reference SM10734, reflecting its significance as an archaeological monument. Iron Age forts of this type in southern Scotland typically represent substantial communal undertakings, constructed to command surrounding landscape and serve as centres for settlement, storage and refuge. The precise plan and extent of Loddan's ramparts and internal structures remain to be fully documented, though its position within Roxburghshire places it within a region where numerous such fortified sites testify to Iron Age occupation and territorial organisation.
The volcanic geology underlying Loddan would have been a familiar material to Iron Age communities in the area, potentially quarried or worked during the site's construction and use. The fort thus represents both a defensive achievement and a demonstration of understanding how natural landscape could be exploited for human settlement in prehistory.
Loddan, fort is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM10734. View the official record →
Loddan is a fort of Iron Age date, situated in Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM10734.
Loddan, fort dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a fort. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Loddan, fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM10734.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Loddan, palisaded settlement 350m NW of summit (0.3 km), Hindhope Hill,fort (1.3 km), Goshen Hill, palisaded settlement (3.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Loddan, fort's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Loddan, fort stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Silurian To Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.