Note
Date 20 December 2013 - 23 May 2016
Event ID 1045394
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045394
This fort occupies a steep-sided coastal promontory and is defended by a belt of three ramparts with external ditches which block the level approach from the NE and drop down the escarpment on the SE side of the promontory to the edge of the cliff-edge below. The ramparts diminish in size from the interior outwards, ranging from 8m to 3.5m in thickness by from 1.8m to 0.6m in height; the ditches accompanying them are up to 4.5m in breadth and 0.8m in depth, and there are possible traces of a counterscarp bank on the lip of the outermost. The present entrance approaches along the SE side of the promontory, but traces of the ramparts and ditches can be seen crossing the gap, indicating that this was not an original feature of the fort. The interior on the top of the promontory measures 39m from NE to SW by 30m transversely (0.09ha), though including an unusable area on the escarpment on the SE side of the promontory an overall area of 0.17ha is cut off behind the defences. A later turf bank, which extends round the lip of the promontory and cuts across the defences on both sides, probably relates to the sheep ree shown here on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0187
