Note
Date 5 November 2015 - 24 May 2016
Event ID 1044983
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044983
This small fortification occupies a promontory formed in a particularly extreme meander of the River North-esk, which has created a long spur low down within the gorge. While the SW flank of the spur is simply steep, the NE flank is precipitous, dropping some 20m to the river, and thus lending itself to fortification by the simple expedient of drawing twin ramparts with a medial ditch across the neck on the NW. The outer rampart is presently the more substantial, still standing 1.7m high externally, and though the inner is no more than 0.3m in height, it stands 1.8m above the bottom of the ditch, which is some 7.5m in breadth. There is a possible entrance towards the NE end of the defences, though this gap may be where a hollowed trackway that can be seen mounting the SE end of the promontory passed on up the spur. No trace of any defences can be seen at the SE end, where, apart from the trackway, a quarry has been excavated across the spine of the promontory. The interior, which is otherwise featureless, measures about 135m in length and ranges in breadth from 45m at the NW end to 22m in the central sector, before tapering to a point beyond the quarry on the SE (0.25ha).
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 24 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3708
