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West Fortune is a post-medieval palisaded enclosure located in East Lothian, Scotland, situated approximately 500 metres north of the village of West Fortune. The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5982. Palisaded enclosures of this period typically represent defended settlement sites, often associated with farming communities or minor landholders seeking protection during the unsettled conditions that characterised parts of early modern Scotland.
The site occupies ground underlain by Dinantian extrusive rocks, comprising mafic lava and mafic tuff deposits formed during the Mississippian period. This bedrock geology, characteristic of the Carboniferous volcanic activity that shaped East Lothian, would have provided a relatively firm foundation for the construction and maintenance of the timber palisade. The local stone resources would have been available for ancillary structures or foundations, though the palisade itself would have been constructed principally from timber posts.
Post-medieval palisaded enclosures represent a distinct phase of Scottish settlement fortification, often smaller and less elaborately engineered than earlier medieval castles or fortifications. West Fortune exemplifies this settlement type within East Lothian, where agricultural communities required modest defensive structures during a period of continued social and economic development in the region.
West Fortune,palisaded enclosure 500m N of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5982. View the official record →
West Fortune is a post-medieval palisaded enclosure located in East Lothian, Scotland, situated approximately 500 metres north of the village of West Fortune. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5982.
West Fortune,palisaded enclosure 500m N of dates from the post-medieval period, and is classified as a palisaded enclosure. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
West Fortune,palisaded enclosure 500m N of 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 SM5982.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Morham Mains,enclosure E of (8.5 km), Colstoun House,medieval pottery kilns 450m E of (8.7 km), Morham Mains,enclosure 400m S of (8.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of West Fortune,palisaded enclosure 500m N of'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.
West Fortune,palisaded enclosure 500m N of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Dinantian, bedrock that formed in the Mississippian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.