Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Note
Date 21 August 2014 - 31 August 2016
Event ID 1044825
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044825
Situated on the summit of Arbory Hill, which is itself the W spur of the ridge of higher hills to the E, this is one of the higher forts in Scotland. Its defences reveal at least three phases of construction, in which an inner stone-walled enclosure has been inserted into the interior of a larger bi-vallate fort, which has itself replaced an earlier palisaded enclosure. The inner enclosure, which is roughly circular and measures 43m in internal diameter (0.14ha), was defended by a substantial wall, now spread up to 9.8m but probably originally in the order of 3m in thickness, and has entrances on the E and SW. This occupies the centre of the earlier fort, the interior of which measures 82m from E to W by 69m transversely (0.42ha). The earlier defences comprise two stone ramparts, each with an external ditch accompanied in places by a counterscarp bank; the inner of these ramparts forms a bank about 5.2m in thickness, standing no more than 0.8m in height internally, but up to 3m above the bottom of the ditch. The two lines are roughly concentric about 5m apart around the southern half of the circuit, but diverge to 8m on the NW, and as much as 20m on the ENE, to form the outer terminal of the staggered entrance in the outer rampart on the E. This is one of five entrances that penetrate both ramparts, the others being on the S, W, WNW and N respectively, but whereas the inner and outer gaps of those in the NW quadrant are roughly opposed, on the E and S the gaps are offset to expose the righthand side of approaching traffic; while these latter may be an expression of defensive architecture, they may also hint that the inner and outer ramparts of the outer circuits are not contemporary, the outer enclosing an overall area of 0.88ha. The evidence of the earlier timber perimeter is most clearly seen at the E entrance, where a minor outward deviation in the line of the inner rampart to create a slight stagger at the gap has revealed the line of the earlier palisade trench, which is otherwise mainly buried beneath the rampart round the rest of the circuit. Within the outer ramparts there are traces of the stances of at least seven timber round-houses, three of which had internal ring-ditches and lie within the inner enclosure.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1627
