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Note
Date 8 December 2014 - 17 August 2016
Event ID 1044473
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044473
This fort occupies a rocky knoll that forms the NE shoulder of Drummond Hill and terminates in precipitous slopes on the NE and SE. Roughly rectangular on plan, the interior measures a maximum of 80m from NE to SW by 65m transversely (0.5ha), backing onto the cliff-edge on the NE and SE, and defended by an inner wall on the NW and SW. This wall measures between 2.9m and 3.3m in thickness where both faces are visible at the W corner, the outer still standing 1.8m in height; in 1957 Kenneth Steer observed the inner face at numerous other places, but these exposures have since disappeared beneath the vegetation. In addition to the inner wall, there is an outer wall, which probably extends from the edge of the escarpment on the SE and along the SW flank, where there is also an earthwork defence in the bottom of the shallow saddle separating the fort from the ground rising on to the crest of Drummond Hill, and round the W corner onto the NW flank. The most recent survey, however, observed its remains only on the NW, interpreting it as a small annexe, whereas Alexander Hutcheson in 1888 (1889, 359-62, fig 4) and Kenneth Steer in 1957 considered that it faced onto the saddle on the SW. Nevertheless, all are agreed that there is a small annexe on the N, extending along the edge of the cliff and measuring internally about 45m from N to S by 35m transversely. A possible entrance leads from the fort into the annexe, raising the possibility that rather than annexe as such, this is an outer defence around the entrance. The ditch on the W, which is up to 10m in breadth by 1.6m in depth, probably enhances a natural gully in the saddle, which may explain why there are only slight traces of an accompanying bank towards the SE end of its inner lip.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 17 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2627
