Note
Date 17 February 2015 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1044173
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044173
This fort is situated on the summit of Beinn Freiceadain, the central of three summits along this ridge that dominates the moorland interior of Caithness. Oval on plan, it measures about 290m from NW to SE by 145m transversely (3.5ha) within a single wall that has probably been in the order of 2.4m in thickness, which can be traced everywhere except the NE, where a cliff-edge takes up its line. Where best preserved around the NW end the wall has been reduced to a stony scarp up to 4.5m broad and 1m high, in which the line of the outer face can be detected in places and there are a few external quarry pits at its foot. Along the steeper SW flank, however, it follows a natural terrace halfway down the slope and there is evidence of quarrying along the rock-faces to its rear. Towards the SE end the wall mounts the slope obliquely, but there are also Intermittent traces of what may be an outer defence continuing along this lower line. While there is one gap in the wall on the N, and a second in a gully midway along its SW side, the only certain entrance is on the NW, where a single massive inner facing slab has been set up on end to mark the inner angle on the E, while other slabs were set along its sides to forma passage 4.5m in length by 1.5m in width. Apart from a chambered cairn and a shepherds cairn, the interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2823
