Archaeology Notes

Event ID 723935

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/723935

NW96NE 8 9609 6537.

(Name : NW 959 650) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

A small promontory fort (R W Feachem 1956) formed by a single trench, some 18' broad and 5' deep, across the neck of a promontory some 30' in width. The area of the promontory within this defence is fairly level, some 80'in length by 50' in breadth, with a rapid fall beyond to a point of jagged rocks rising some 20' to 30' above the sea. The flanks of the fort are unscalable cliffs some 50' to 60' in height.

RCAHMS 1912

This small, promontory fort was located at NW 9610 6537 and is as described by RCAHMS. No trace of any earthwork or fort was seen at NW 9598 6509 where the name "Fort" is published on OS 25" (Antiquity Model).

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 21 February 1968

This small earthwork is situated on a promontory on the coastal escarpment 990m WSW of High Auchneel farmhouse. The E approach to the promontory is cut off by a ditch 4.3m broad and 0.5m deep with an internal bank spread up to 3m thick; the crest of the bank stands 1.1m above the bottom of the ditch but no more than 0.2m above the level of the interior. At both ends the bank hooks round on to the sides of the promontory, dying out immediately on the N, but extending as a scarp for a distance of 6m on the S. At the point where this scarp peters out, a terrace 2m broad drops gently down from the interior, probably indicating the position of the entrance to the earthwork. The interior probably only measures 23.5 from ENE to WSW by 16m transversely on the W and 9.6m on the E, but the ground falls away sharply to the W and the promontory extends for a further 56m out into the sea.

RCAHMS 1912; 1985, visited (SH) September 1984