(NY 76369039) Peel. (1)

The tower or bastle at Shilla Hill, in poor condition, measures externally 48ft x 24ft. The walls are four feet thick except the west wall which is eight feet thick and probably contained a mural stair. The walls are of rubble with large quoins. The doorway is in the east end. The bastle is surrounded by the ruins of a complex series of enclosures, some of stone, and some of earth and stone, and generally curvilinear in plan, while at its east end are the better built remains of what was probably a later farm house. (2)

A typical Tudor strong house. (3)

Remains of a building upon the top of Shilla Hill, at approx 680 feet above O.D. The ground measurements are 14.4m east-west, 7m north-south and the walls, of large unhewn stones with shaped boulders at the corners, are 1.4m thick. The entrance in the east end is 0.6m wide, has an arched roof over a lintel stone and has bar holes in the side stones. The north and east walls stand to a height of 2m, the wall stands to 1.5m, and the south wall to 0.3m. No evidence of access to an upper storey, or of vaulting. The ruin is overgrown, and a tree growing on the wall in the north east corner threatens to demolish this part.
The site commands the valley of the Tarset Burn to the north west, north east, and south east, and a wide stretch of gently rising open moorland to the south, west and north west, and stands within newly-afforested lands belonging to the Forestry Commission. Similar remains in the region have been dated to the 16th/17th century.
Foundations of a steading to the immediate east of the Pele are too fragmentary to date, but the walls do not appear to have been of any great thickness or age. The enclosures surrounding the Pele, referred to by Authority 2 lie in afforested ground and could not be located. (4)

Condition unchanged. Apart from the steadings to the east which appear to be recent there are no traces of the surrounding enclosures, which have probably been destroyed by deep furrow ploughing within the afforestation. Published survey (25 inch) revised. (5)

NY 763903 Remains of bastle. (See Type-site: NY 88 SE 14). (6)

The remains of a bastle mainly as described in reports of 31/7/56 and 28/7/70. Condition unchanged. Surveyed at 1:10,000. (7)

Ruin of rectangular building 14.4m x 6.95m externally with walls of roughly-squared roughly-coursed blocks; north wall 1.35m thick. North east corner stands to 2m. Doorway in centre east wall has rounded jambs, checks for two doors, and drawbar tunnel on south; one inner lintel survives. Remains of 'later farmhouse and other enclosures' at east end now barely visible, following Forestry planting then clearance. Tree growing on east wall, masonry has recently fallen. Byre entrance could be consolidated and lintel possibly replaced. (8)(9)

The earliest reference to the name Shilla Hill is 1749; it is marked on Armstrong's map of 1769; but is not recorded in 1770. The original name may have been lost as the bastle must be late 16th/early 17th century. The name Starheyd (1552)/Starr Head (1583)/Stairhead (1663)/Starry Head (late 17th century) occurs in association with known places in the area and is suggested as the original name of Shilla Hill. (10)

Remains of a later cottage and a field system lie close by. A possible stack stand lies near the ruins. Shilla Hill pele. (11)

NY 7636 9038. Shilla Hill bastle, 350m W of Comb. Scheduled RSM No 25079. (12)

Surveyed at 1:500 scale by RCHME in May 1997. Inspection of 1948 aerial photographs, prior to afforestation, show the bastle, the building to the north east, external enclosure bank and small semi-circular enclosure. Remains of ridge and furrow cultivation are visible outside the enclosure banks to the north, north east and south, but not within the enclosures. Description of bastle largely as above. Two other buildings lie to the north east and east of the bastle and survive as earthworks. A series of banks form four enclosures, probably used for livestock. (13)

Watching brief during conservation works in 2009 recorded a probable narrow slit vent west of centre in the north wall. In the east part of the same wall were two massive squared blocks which seem to be the base of the north-west angle of the original building. The west end extension of the bastle revealed, 2.5m inside the line of the external wall face, a wall face two courses high in parts, with a rough facing only to the interior, with a gap at the south end and another just short of the north end. This thickening is considered to be a crude stone bench, perhaps used as a feeding platform for stock and was probably an insertion made after the bastle was extended, and later cut through towards its north end by a doorway. A possible threshhold of a seconday opening was also apparent in the south wall of the bastle, suggested by a footing of loose small rubble. A test-pit excavated against the interior face of the south wall, in order to determine the depth of rubble overburden, revealed a flagged floor at about 0.75m depth. This was found to have been laid on a base of imported clean sand which itself had been spread on sub-soil at the same depth as the adjacent wall foundation course. It appears that the flagged floor was an original feature, although the only dateable finds to emerge from this small excavation were 18th or 19th century pot sherds. (14)

NY 7636 9038. Shilla Hill bastle, 350m W of Comb. Scheduled RSM No 25079. (15a)

Shilla Hill bastle (NY 7636 9038) was surveyed by the RCHME (level 3) in May 1997 at 1:500 scale. The remains consist of a ruined bastle where only the lower courses of the stone walls remain. Earthworks of two additional buildings lie immediately to the E and NE, and there are also fainter traces of surrounding earthworks that once formed the banks of at least four enclosures.

The situation of the site is essentially as described by the previous field authorities, except that the site and the surrounding area has been clear felled. The bastle is principally as described by Authy 4 except that the relieving arch above the doorway has fallen down, probably due to the roots of the tree on the NE corner. No evidence was found for stairs and the thicker nature of the W wall is thought to be rubble only. It is possible that there was another wider entrance in the middle of the S wall as there is a gap 1.9m wide here; if so it is likely to be a later insertion.

There are well-preserved earthworks of two buildings immediately to the E and NE of the bastle on a similar alignment to the main building. They appear to be later additions as they partially obstruct access to the E entrance. The more southern building has walls that are parallel to the bastle. It consists of two rooms with an entrance on the S wall of the E room, the internal dimensions of which are 4m x 2m. The W side is not discernable but the building was probably separate from the bastle rather than abutting it. The banks vary between 1.3m - 3m in width.

To the N, almost abutting and on a slightly different alignment, is another building measuring 6.4m x 3.8m internally. The banks are 3.5m wide, 0.4m high in most places, reaching a maximum height of 0.9m in the NE corner. There is an entrance in the N bank, 1.9m wide, and possibly another opposite in the S bank.

The survey managed to locate the banks of the surrounding enclosures referred to by Authy 2. These can be seen on air photographs, along with evidence of ridge and furrow outside (15c).

There are four enclosures, probably for holding stock. The smallest is a semi-circular bank 2.2m wide and 0.3 high, extending from the SW and SE corners of the bastle. There are three larger conjoined rectilinear enclosures to the W, N and NE covering a total area of c.70m x 40m. They survive as poor to fairly well-preserved stony banks, 0.4m - 0.7m high and 2.2m - 3.8m wide.

The earliest reference to the name Shilla Hill is 1749. It may have originally been called Starheyd (1552), Starr Head (1583), Stairhead (1663) and Starry Head (Late C17). In 1552 Starheyd is mentioned in the order of the day-watch for North Tynedale (15d). In 1583 Starr Head was one of a number of sites attacked by the Armstrongs (15e). In 1663 Stairhead was described as a 'messuage containing arable land, meadow and pasture 18 acres and sufficient common of pasture, held by the Hunter family (15f). Land tax of 14s was paid on Shilla Hill by Mrs Barbary Hall in 1749 (15g).

Shilly Hill is marked on Armstrong's map of 1769. There is no mention of Shilla Hill in the Tithe commutations of West Tarset (15h), although it appears on a map signed by the Tithe Commissioners of 1841 (15i). It is shown on the OS 1st Edition map of 1866 (15j).

Shilla Hill is one of the sites on the 'Reiver's Trail' which includes a number of the better preserved bastles; a stone built information point has been erected at the side of the footpath. (15b)

Listed by Cathcart King and by Dodds. (15k)