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Note
Date 12 May 2015 - 31 August 2016
Event ID 1044549
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044549
This fort encloses the summit of Barry Hill, a lower isolated hill separated from the Hill of Loyal and the rest of the Hill of Alyth on the W by the steep-sided gully that carries the public road northwards from Alyth into Glen Isla. The defences are evidently complex, but while the innermost enclosure and a substantial outer wall on the E and S might reasonably be presented as the final phase of construction, the extent and overall plan of the earlier circuits is unclear. The innermost enclosure stands on the summit and forms an elongated oval on plan, measuring 80m from E to W by 25m transversely (0.16ha) within what was probably a timber-laced wall reduced to a bank of rubble 10m in thickness and standing between 2m and 2.5m high internally. On the S and E the scree of rubble descends in excess of 6m into the bottom of an external ditch. Fragments of vitrifaction are scattered through the rubble and one larger mass is visible adjacent to what is probably an entrance causeway across the ditch at the ESE corner, though it is unclear how this provided access into the interior. The present entrance trackway extends along the lip of the natural slope on the N flank of the hill, apparently following an original route round the end of the outer defences, before turning to ride up onto the rubble of the inner wall. This route probably superseded an earlier trackway mounting the slope on the ESE, where it is clear that an entrance through the massive outwork 16m in thickness by from 3.5m to 1.2m in height that protects the E and S has been blocked. Further complexities in the accretion of these outer defences are provided by the irregularities along the course of the ditch, which may indicate episodes of re-cutting, and an outer rampart creating a feature akin to a bastion between the blocked entrance and the approach track that succeeded it on the N. At least three additional lines of defence that probably relate to earlier schemes can be seen at the W end, the upper of which extends the length of the N side and loops round the tip of a spur projecting towards the W above a deep hollow containing a pond in the W end of the hill. A second rampart is butted onto this upper line on the spur, dropping down southwards to enclose the pond within an annexe and possibly including an entrance on its S side before petering out eastwards, while on the slope above it in this sector, with an entrance on the W leading towards the pond, there is yet another arc of rampart; this last is perhaps overlain by the massive outwork of the inner fort. The only internal features within the upper enclosure are two shallow hollows, one of which appears subrectangular.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3063
