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Lour Fort and Settlement is an Iron Age fort and settlement located in Peeblesshire, in the Scottish Borders. The site sits upon bedrock of the Gala Group, a formation of wacke dating to the Telychian period, which would have provided a naturally firm foundation for construction. The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument under reference SM2880.
The fort represents a substantial Iron Age defensive settlement, demonstrating the strategic importance of this location in the Peeblesshire landscape during the pre-Roman period. Such fortified settlements were central to Iron Age society, serving as centres of power, refuge and economic activity for surrounding communities.
The wacke bedrock underlying the site would have influenced both the construction techniques employed and the landscape's natural drainage characteristics, factors that would have been familiar to Iron Age builders. Today the monument remains an important archaeological resource for understanding settlement patterns and defensive strategies in the Scottish Borders during the Iron Age.
Lour,fort & settlement is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2880. View the official record →
Lour Fort and Settlement is an Iron Age fort and settlement located in Peeblesshire, in the Scottish Borders. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2880.
Lour,fort & settlement dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a fort & settlement. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Lour,fort & settlement 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 SM2880.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Kirkhope,crossbase,tower & associated structures 500m WSW of (5.1 km), The Bank, settlement 485m SW of Kirkhope (5.3 km), Hopecarton, settlement 530m SE of (6.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Lour,fort & settlement'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.
Lour,fort & settlement stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.