Note
Date 10 November 2015 - 10 August 2016
Event ID 1044992
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044992
Arthur's Seat, the steep and craggy hill at the core of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, is apparently the site of a large fort, though defences have only been been identified barring access to its upper slopes on the E, principally blocking access up a broad gully into the saddle between the summit on the NW and Crow Hill on the SE, and extending across the E face of Crow Hill above the system of cultivation terraces. The other flanks, which are steep but by no means inaccessible, were apparently left open and the size of the interior can be only roughly estimated at some 8.5ha. The defences comprise two ramparts, which on the floor of the gully both form substantial terraces overlain by later field-banks, and there is a possible entrance at the foot of a hillock on its NW side. In 1995 excavation along the line of the footpath to the summit of Arthur's Seat uncovered a band of rubble belonging to the inner extending NW from the hillock to the lip of the slope, while a section cut across its line on the hillock revealed that it was spread at least 5.4m in thickness by up to 1.2m in height (Alexander 1997). A possible round-house has been tentatively identified on the SE side of the gully a short distance up the slope from the inner ramaprt, but in view of the general absence of such features from the rest of the interior this feature is perhaps unrelated to the use and occupation of the fort.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 10 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3719
