Archaeology Notes
Date - 1972
Event ID 685245
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/685245
NO20NW 7 2220 0688.
(NO 2220 0688) Maiden Castle (Fort) (NR)
OS 6" map (1920)
'Maiden Castle occupies an oval hill along the northern brow of the hill; there are traces of huts having been excavated.'
Source: Miller 1857
The grassy hillock known as 'Maiden Castle' rises steeply from amidst the rougher ground between two low spurs of the Lomond Hills. The knoll is elliptical in outline with its major axis almost due E and W.
The flattened summit measures roughly 461' long by 114' maximum width. A single earthen rampart and inner ditch run along the N and S sides and there is some terracing about midway up the steeply sloping scarps at the WSW and ENE.
A 16' wide approach leads up to a W entrance, while at the E end a natural ridge leads into a 20' gap in the rampart and ditch.
Source: RCAHMS 1933
This earthwork is generally as described by RCAHMS. The main feature is its basal ditch which is well preserved around the N,S and E sides, and there is a well-defined entrance at the W end. At the E end, however, where access is comparatively easy, the ditch and entrance has the appearance of being unfinished. The terracing around the N and S sides probably represents an incomplete ditch, whilst around the summit are the slight remains of a marker trench. These remains are more pronounced where they adjoin the entrances at both ends. No certain traces of huts can be seen within the interior.
Though most of the surviving remains are strong and impressive, the site as a whole has the appearance of being an unfinished fort.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (ECW) 16 May 1972.
