Note
Date 16 January 2015 - 30 May 2016
Event ID 1044234
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044234
This fort is situated on a low ridge rising a little over 10m above the surrounding land and dropping away sharply around the N, E and W flanks. It is roughly oval on plan, the interior measures about 50m from NNW to SSE by 29m transversely (0.12ha). The main defence comprises a single wall, which on the S attains massive proportions, forming a mound of rubble 10m broad and rising up to 4.5m above the level of the interior; here the wall is about 4.2m thick, though elsewhere on the flanks of the ridge it is between 2.1m and 3.3m thick. There is an entrance on the ENE, but the OS suggested there was a second towards the S end of the W side. In addition to the wall at least four rows of upright boulders have been extended at intervals partly or wholly across the accessible SSE end of the ridge, though whether these are really part of the defences, to impede the easiest line of approach, as was first suggested by RCAHMS investigators in 1921 (RCAHMS 1928, 182-3, no. 577, fig 260), or are simply the result of later activity on the ridge is uncertain. Notably they are strung in a belt 20m deep across the ridge in straight lines up to 35m in length that make no attempt to replicate the curve of the wall. The fort certainly lies within a post medieval agricultural landscape, traces of which can be seen all round, and the stony foundations visible within the interior include two that are probably of relatively recent date and seem to be butted against the line of the wall.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 30 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2709
