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Note

Date 21 November 2014 - 31 August 2016

Event ID 1044408

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044408

This remarkable fortification encloses the spine of a narrow ridge from which boulder-studded slopes fall away steeply in every direction. Three elements in the defences may be discerned: a small dun-like enclosure measuring no more than 7.5m in diameter within a heavily vitrified wall at the NW extremity of the ridge; a long narrow enclosure with a heavily vitrified wall extending back down the crest of the ridge to the SE to enclose the summit; and an outer annexe at the SE end, with an entrance opening onto a sloping terrace that provided the only easy line of access up the SW flank of the ridge. While it is assumed that the dun overlies the vitrified wall enclosing the summit, the stratigraphic relationship is uncertain. The main enclosure measures some 90m in length from NW to SE by a maximum of 17m in breadth at its SE end, tapering back NW to little more than a narrow strip 4m broad. Several short runs of outer facing-stones can be seen and in places the vitrified core stands 2.7m high. The rocky and uneven interior is featureless and the position of the entrance is not known, though it is likely to fall at the foot of a rock-face that bisects the southern end of the interior, on its SW flank. On this side an outer wall, now reduced to a band of rubble with several runs of outer face, drops down to take in a lower terrace and return along the spine of the ridge on the E. Unlike the main enclosure, the wall of this outer enclosure shows no trace of vitrifaction, raising the possibility that either it was an addition to the fort built entirely in drystone masonry, or that it represents part of an earlier fortification taking in an larger area.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2537

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