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The hills of Cademuir form a natural stronghold, bounded by the Manor Water and the Tweed and dominating the through route from the Tweed to the Clyde valleys
Two Iron Age fortified settlements lie on the ridge. Cademuir I stands on the summit with good natural protection on all but the slightly less precipitous south-west side. There are traces of at least 35 timber-framed houses within the fort which suggests a site of some significance. It was, in fact, a small town but it was probably abandoned c AD 80 after the arrival of the Romans.
The second, considerably smaller fort, occupies the lower western summit of the ridge. Outside the massive stone ruins of its 6m thick enclosing wall, stand subsidiary enclosures. Its most interesting feature is undoubtedly the chevaux de frise protecting the north-east. More than 100 stones still stand over a distance of nearly 80m, set in the outer side of a small gully so that they would have been invisible until attackers had breasted the gully.
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