Archaeology Notes

Event ID 653945

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/653945

ND16NE 7 1579 6987.

(ND 1579 6987) Fort (NR) (rems of)

OS 6" map, (1970)

Opposite the termination of the farm road which leads past West Murkle is a small promontory across the landward end of which is a wall or rampart measuring some 8 to 10ft in thickness and 8ft maximum height. The end and sides of the promontory are much eroded and there is no trace of any structure which may have formerly existed behind the defence (RCAHMS 1911). 'An old fort'. A 2ft layer of black soil overlies heaps of periwinkle and limpet shells (ONB 1872).

Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB) 1872; RCAHMS 1911.

The fragmentary remains of a small promontory fort. It consists of a ruined stone wall or rampart, measuring some 7.0m in width, 2.5m high externally and 1.0m internally, which encloses a small, much eroded cliff projection 26.0m NW-SE by 13.0m transversely. Running N from the E end of the rampart along the cliff edge for about 2.0m, there is a line of thin slabs 0.6m high, possibly the remains of defences along the E side. No evidence of an entrance or internal structures is to be seen. Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 16 February 1965.

The fort is generally as described above. The rampart only survives to any extent on the landward SW side. A depression in the rampart, 3.5m wide, may indicate the position of the entrance or be the result of recent mutilation. There are indications of a now shallow ditch outside the rampart on the S side.

Visited by OS (J B) 7 December 1981.

A grassy hillock forming a blunt headland some 6m above high water level. Around it runs a considerable bank and ditch which start in a straight line from the cliff on the E side, but about half-way across curve sharply W and seawards. The top of the bank stands some 3m above the bottom of the U-sectioned ditch; the bank has a core of large stones and probably a masonry revetment. A slight depression about midway along the bank is probably not the original entrance, which possibly was at one of the ends lost by erosion. Within the fort nothing is visible on the ground except for a few erect slabs behind the rampart at the E end. In the cliff-sections, however, portions of walls can be seen, suggesting that the defended area, which is thickly overgrown was quite densely built-up.

R G Lamb 1980.