Note
Date 20 December 2013 - 23 May 2016
Event ID 1045427
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1045427
This promontory work occupies a precipitous position on the cliffs along the SW coast of the Machars and is undercut by sea caves, the mouths of which have probably receded back into the top of the promontory since its construction. The defences, which cut off the approach from the N, comprise a stone wall some 2.4m thick where the faces survive, fronted with a ditch about 8.5m in breadth by up to 2.5m in depth externally. A causeway towards the E side of the promontory corresponds to an entrance 1.5m wide through the wall to provide access into the interior, which measures 56m from N to S by up to 23m transversely (0.1ha); the way the arc of defences meets the cliff-edge on the landward side a cleft above one of the sea caves suggests that the interior was once larger, but probably never more than about 0.13ha. The foundations of several structures can be seen in the immediate rear of the wall, and in 1955 RCAHMS speculated that these and the wall itself might be the result of a secondary occupation.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0215