Note
Date 19 February 2015 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1044185
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044185
A shallow promontory on the spectacular cliffs at the head of Girston Bay is delineated on the landward side by a ditch-like feature 6.5m broad and up to 2.4m deep, which probably follows a fault-line in the underlying rocks. The ground on the seaward side rises sharply towards the cliff-edge, but if this was ever the remains of a promontory fort, as suggested in 1971 by Raymond Lamb (1980, 76), its interior has been reduced to a narrow strip measuring about 50m from NNW to SSE by no more than 18m transversely. Subsequent investigations, including two visits by the OS and one during the Caithness Coastal Survey directed by Colleen Batey, have been less convinced that this is any more than natural, and for such a large ditch it is probably telling that no one has observed any trace of an upcast rampart.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2829
