© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
Yair fort is an Iron Age hillfort situated in Oakbank Wood, Selkirkshire, in the Scottish Borders. The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument under reference SM2122. The fort occupies a defensible position within the wooded landscape, where the underlying bedrock comprises wacke of the Hawick Group, a formation dating from the Wenlock epoch. These hard metamorphic rocks would have provided both the geological foundation and practical stone for construction and fortification.
The site represents a typical Iron Age defended settlement of the northern British interior. Such hillforts served as focal points for Iron Age communities, offering protection and functioning as centres of storage, craft production and social authority. The wooded setting at Yair would have offered both concealment and natural resources for the inhabitants.
The proximity of Oakbank Wood and the substantial bedrock beneath the site shaped how the fort was constructed and positioned. The Hawick Group wacke's resistance to erosion means that archaeological traces of the Iron Age occupation, including any defensive earthworks or structural remains, remain embedded within the landscape today. The fort preserves evidence of Iron Age settlement patterns in the Scottish Borders during the centuries before Roman contact.
Yair,fort,Oakbank Wood is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2122. View the official record →
Yair fort is an Iron Age hillfort situated in Oakbank Wood, Selkirkshire, in the Scottish Borders. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2122.
Yair,fort,Oakbank Wood dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a fort,oakbank wood. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Yair,fort,Oakbank Wood 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 SM2122.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Philiphaugh,linear earthwork (5.5 km), Howden,motte (6.5 km), Brownmoor Glen,fort (7.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Yair,fort,Oakbank Wood'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.
Yair,fort,Oakbank Wood stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.