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Measured Survey
Date 5 February 2016 - 6 February 2016
Event ID 1016071
Category Recording
Type Measured Survey
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016071
NO 15266 23679 (NO12SE 3) A topographic survey of the hillfort in Deuchny Wood was undertaken, 5–6 February 2016, as part of the Tay Landscape Partnership. The fort occupies the summit of a long low rise which is steep sided to the N and S with more gentle slopes to the E and W. Two lower
terraces lie to the W on the same ridge as the fort. The fort now lies in a clearing, but has been previously forested, and the felling and removal of timber have severely affected the earthworks. The fort itself comprises a grassed over rampart that can be traced around the eastern end of the summit and encloses an area of 0.14ha. The rampart is preserved only in
the E where it runs along the crest of the knoll and is up to 7m thick and 0.4m high.
An entrance lies in the E, indicated by a gap 2.4m wide, in the surviving stretch of rampart. On either side of the entrance passage are a number of large stones that may be in situ facing stones of the rampart. An area of protruding bedrock on the outer edge of the northern rampart terminal
appears to have been quarried and terraced. A number of large stones lie on the continuation of the line of the entrance; however, they do not form a coherent structure and may be tumble from the rampart. At the bottom of the slope below the entrance there is a short stretch of ditch measuring 7m in width and 0.5m in depth. Lying outside of this ditch is a
counterscarp bank up to 4m wide and 0.3m high.
The interior of the fort is rocky and uneven with bedrock protruding through the surface at a number of points. No evidence for internal structures is present, although these may be masked by the general uneven ground surface.
On the upper of the western terraces there is a double line of stones, which may be the remnants of a second western entrance. Boog-Watson (1923) reports two lines of stones curving across this middle terrace, which may have been further ramparts at the W of the hillfort. The whole hillfort appears to have been in a better state of preservation at the time of Boog-Watson’s survey with the rampart forming an almost continuous line around along the edge of the plateau.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Tay Landscape Partnership
Jamie Humble and Graeme Cavers – AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES, Volume 17)
