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Field Visit

Date 28 May 1913

Event ID 1089060

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1089060

74. Fort, Kaeheughs, Barney Mains.

On the summit of a long ridge, interspersed with straggling trees at the western end and contained within more closely grown trees round the eastern segment, 400 yards west of Barney Mains, at an elevation of 500 feet above sea level, is a fort, somewhat almond-shaped on plan, with the narrow end to the east (fig. 88 [ELD 14/1]).The main axis is east and west and measures internally some 460 feet in length and 235 feet in breadth. No defence is required along the northern flank, as there is a sheer precipice of rock 50 to 60 feet in height on this side, below which the ground falls away in a steep declivity for more than 150 feet from the foot of the rock. On the south the land falls sharply for 30 feet between the inner and outer walls, then slopes away gradually. To the east the ground has been steep and rocky, but an old quarry has encroached on the fort at this place, destroying any defences which may have existed here, while to the west the ridge stretches away fairly level. The main entrance (fig. 11 [EL 7]) 10 to 12 feet wide is along the summit of the ridge from the west penetrating all the defences, and there is also an entrance 9 to 15 feet wide from the south near the western end of the interior.

The inner defence on the southern flank is a rampart, 9 feet broad and rising about 1 foot above the inner level, which is carried round the western end until it reaches the edge of the precipice on the north. Across this end it attains considerable dimensions, being in places 23 feet broad at the base and 6 feet high on the inside. Besides the inner one on the southern flank there are two other ramparts near the foot of the steep natural escarpment. The first of these outer defences is 6 feet broad, 1 foot high on the inside and 11 feet high on the outside, while its crest lies 54 feet from, and 17 ½ feet lower than the inner rampart; the second rampart is 10 feet broad, 1 foot high on the inside, 3 ½ feet high on the outside and 40 feet distant from the crest of the last mentioned rampart. Some 16 feet beyond, what looks like the fragment of an outer rampart of uncertain dimensions can be traced for some distance east of the southern entrance. These defences run west along the southern flank as far as the southern entrance, beyond which only the second of them is continued westwards, and this can be traced for about 65 yards, after which it seems to carryon some distance as a scarp. The distance between this line and the inner rampart, adjacent to the southern entrance, is 85 feet, the intervening space being occupied by outcropping rocks. The defences at the western, and most accessible, end of the fort, consist of three ramparts outside the inner rampart, intervals of 49 feet, 53 feet and 153feet separating them from each other. The first of these is built right across the ridge from the outer rampart on the south to the edge of the precipice on the north and measures 12feet in breadth at the base and 3 to 4 feet in height; the second, commencing at the rocky outcrop on the south, is also carried across the ridge and measures 18 feet in breadth and 3 to4 feet in height; while the third and outer rampart,10 feet in breadth and I foot in height, with a ditch 8 feet broad and 1 foot deep outside it runs from the ridge northwards for some 50 yards, when it terminates some 40 yards from the edge of the precipice on the north. There are no remains of hut circles to be seen in the interior, but some hollows in the rocky surface could easily have been, and probably were, used as shelters.

RCAHMS 1924, visited 28 May 1913.

OS Map: v. S.W.

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