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Note

Date 6 April 2015 - 18 October 2016

Event ID 1044329

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044329

The fortifications enclosing the summit of Tap o'Noth comprise two elements: a heavily vitrified and massively constructed inner enclosure upon the summit of the whale-backed hill; and a large outer enclosure bounded by a rampart contouring much further down the slope. The enclosure on the summit measures at least 85m from NW to SE by 30m transversely (0.26ha) within a wall now reduced to a bank of rubble up to 15m in thickness by 3m in internal height. Quarrying around the inner edge of the bank has exposed large masses of vitrifaction, which can also be seen in the massive scree of debris that has tumbled down the slope outside. No evidence of an entrance is visible; the present access over the wall from the E via a stony external ramp was already present in the 19th century and is more likely to have been erected by quarrymen. Drawn in an arc across the SE end of the interior, however, there are traces of two banks with a medial ditch, while roughly at the centre are possible traces of a ring-ditch house; the relationship between these features and the wall are not known, partly because the ends of the banks and ditch have been truncated by the quarrying activity. The only other feature within the interior is a well.

The large outer enclosure measures about 550m from NW to SE by 400m transversely (16.4ha), within a heavily-robbed stone rampart that has been almost obliterated in some places, particularly along the steep S flank of the hill. Traces of an internal quarry scoop can be seen to the rear of this wall on the NW quarter and on the E. There are ten gaps in the line of the wall, disposed on the E, N and W, but at least five of them are probably relatively recent, with traces of trackways mounting the slope towards the summit; of the rest, those on the E and NNW are almost certainly original, and possibly a third on the W. Several of the trackways visible within the interior seem to service the clusters of small house-platforms that pockmark the slopes below the upper enclosure.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2938

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