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Note
Date 26 March 2015 - 31 May 2016
Event ID 1044288
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044288
This fortification is situated on a promontory formed at the confluence of the Allt Downie and the River Carron, both of which have incised deep gorges into the rocks at this point of their courses. Its defences comprise two elements: a broch reduced to little more than a mound on the crest of the promontory; and at least two ramparts with external ditches cutting across the neck to bar access from the E. The dimensions of the area enclosed on the promontory are not recorded, but the broch-mound straddles virtually the whole of the crest, which is thus in the order of 20m in breadth, and other measurements noted in 1943 by Angus Graham and Gordon Childe suggest an overall length of about 80m (0.25ha) to the rear of the inner of the outer ramparts. Measuring over 6m in thickness by 0.9m in internal height, this stands 3m above the bottom of an external ditch 8m in breadth, and is drawn in an arc across the neck to terminate at an entrance approaching along the S margin of the promontory. The outer rampart and ditch appear to enhance natural features, but traces of an inner face are visible and a rock-cut section of the ditch on the crest of the promontory is 4.4m broad; a possible third rampart can also be seen outside this line. Apart from the broch, the only feature in the interior is a terrace where a summer-house stood overlooking the river at the W tip of the promontory.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2920
