Archaeology Notes

Event ID 650680

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/650680

NC70SW 17 7421 0145.

Fort: The summit of a bluff which measures 126ft from N to S by 96ft transversely has been enclosed by a wall 6ft to 7ft in thickness, now dilapidated. On the E slope, about halfway up, is a shoulder or terrace some 90ft long by 30ft wide, and above this the defences have been supplemented by an extra wall, 7ft thick still for a short distance showing its outer and inner faces. Within these defences are the ruins of an inner circular enclosure, with a surrounding wall, 12ft to 15ft in thickness and an internal diameter of 31ft.

The approach appears to have would upwards from the S end of the shoulder, passing diagonally through the outer wall in a northerly direction, being then diverted sharply to the SW as it approaches the central enclosure by the end of a flanking wall which runs from the N end of the latter in a generally south-easterly direction. This wall appears to terminate 17ft distant from the central enclosure and some 2 1/2ft from the outer wall opposite the point where the entrance passes through the latter. In the thickness of the outer wall, to the N of the entrance through it, are the appearances of two chambers, one in the rear of the other, some 6ft and 10ft in diameter respectively. The position of the entrance to the inner enclosure is suggestive of a broch, but there is an absence of debris in the interior, which is usually characteristic of ruins of this class.

RCAHMS 1911.

NC 7421 0145. The much reduced remains of a fort, generally as described by the RCAHMS. There is possibly another entrance in the SW, where there is a break in the defences. Below the rock face on the NW side, there is a defensive, turf-covered bank of stones, 2.0m high and some 80m long N-S.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 1 March 1966.

(NC 7421 0145) Fort (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)

This fort, on the summit of a commanding bluff, measures some 37.0m from NE to SW by 29.0m within a wall reduced to an amorphous spread. No entrance is now discernible. The bottom of the low cliff flanking the W side of the fort has been scarped to form a ditch and outer bank. A natural trench across the steep N approach to the fort has been scarped and heightened on the N side to give added defence. Extending from the SW side of the fort in a southerly direction down the slope to end on a rock outcrop is a stony bank some 33.0m in length with an entrance gap. Tenuous traces indicate that the bank continued round to the E and then N to terminate on the NE side of the fort or on the rocky slope close by it. On the E, an elongated mass of stones with some indication of coursing at the lower end lies up and down the slope; from the lowervend there is some suggestion of a bank or wall curving round to the NW and ascending the slope. Generally, however, the feature does not appear to be the remains of a defensive outwork.

Within the fort is a circular enclosure as described by the RCAHMS.

This may be the remains of a dun, but if so it is very depleted, and no facing stones, entrance, or any other structural details are exposed. Revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (J M) 18 March 1981.