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Date 13 October 2015 - 20 October 2016

Event ID 1044918

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044918

This fort is situated on the N spur of Henderland Hill, at the top of a steep slope dropping away to the NW, and from the road at Mountain Cross the defences cut a striking profile on the skyline. Oval on plan, it measures about 67m from NE to SW by 43m transversely (0.22ha) within twin ramparts with external ditches. These defences are amongst the most impressive in the whole district, particularly approached across the level ground from the SW, for while the inner rampart rises little more than 0.6m above the interior, its crest stands up to 3.6m above the bottom of the inner ditch; the outer rampart and ditch here are of comparable stature and the counterscarp of the latter is still 1.6m deep. Elsewhere the outer ditch has suffered from later cultivation, entirely disappearing on the E, but though the RCAHMS investigators who drew up a plan in 1959 were uncertain whether it had ever continued around the steep NW flank, more recent oblique aerial photography has revealed traces of its course. The entrance is on the NE and was adapted for secondary use when a scooped settlement was inserted into the NE end of the interior. Two more crescentic scarps indicate the platforms of timber round-houses immediately outside the settlement on the SW, where there are also two small ring-ditch houses tucked into what appears to be a quarry scoop to the rear of the inner rampart.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 20 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3625

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