Rispain Camp is the remains of a fortified farmstead 1 mile west of Whithorn,

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

, Scotland. It is one of the major Iron Age archaeological sites in Scotland. The property is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. Access is through a farm off the A746 South of Whithorn. The name Rispain may derive from a local equivalent of the

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

word ''rhwospen'' meaning 'the chief of the cultivated country', a name certainly appropriate to as prestigious a farm as this. Today it consists of two broad earth banks separated by a ditch, originally almost six metres deep surrounding an enclosure of almost half a hectare. Its defences are so well preserved that until the mid-1970s archaeologists believed the site to be either a

Roman fort In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

farmstead. However excavations in the early 1980s provided evidence that it was inhabited between the 100 BC and 200 AD by local Celtic farmers.

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

has provided evidence that the site was definitely occupied around 60 BC.Gifford, John (1996) '' The Buildings of Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway'', Penguin Excavation revealed traces of a timber gateway to the north east, which would probably have been connected to a timber

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

running along the top of the inner rampart. There was also evidence of large timber roundhouses inside the enclosure, one of which is thirteen and a half metres in diameter. In the ditch's south eastern corner excavation uncovered a square pit, possibly a

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

. Cattle, sheep and pigs were kept and hunting in the surrounding countryside provided venison. Barley and wheat may not just have been used as foodstuffs but also, in the case of barley, used in the

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

References

External links

Rispain Camp at the Megalithic Portal
* {{Historic Environment Scotland, num=SM90248, desc=Rispain Camp Historic Scotland properties in Dumfries and Galloway Iron Age sites in Scotland Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway Former populated places in Scotland Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Dumfries and Galloway