Archaeology Notes

Event ID 705707

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/705707

NS79SE 60 7687 9176

(NS 7687 9176) A fort is situated on top of the steep crags forming the W face of Gillies Hill, where the line of the crags is interrupted by a gully. The remains lie in a plantation and were partly hidden by lopped branches when visited. The angle formed with the crags by the N side of the gully is cut off from the rest of the hill by three ramparts, enclosing an area about 240' N-S by 180'. The ramparts now consist of low banks spread to a maximum width of 15'. A few earthfast boulders protruding from the banks probably represent wall-faces. The ramparts are pierced at two points by a winding forest track, but it seems likely that another gap, on the NE arc, marks the position of the original entrance.

RCAHMS 1963, visited 1957

This area of Gillies Hill has been largely cleared of trees leaving hummocky ground and uprooted tree stumps. There are now only vague unsurveyable traces of a single rampart.

Visited by OS (JP), 13 December 1973

The fort is threatened by quarrying for roadstone. In September 1984 a trial trench, 39m long and 4m wide, was opened across the defences in the south sector. Three stone faced ramparts survive. The innermost, Rampart I, was c 3.0m thick rising to a height of x 0.8m with facing on the outside only. Rampart II, c 5m out from Rampart I, was less well preserved with only traces of facing. The core material was c 2.4m thick and c 0.2m high. Rampart III, c 3.0m thick and c 0.6m high, was faced on both sides with stone quarried from in front of Rampart II. Material for the construction of the rampart cores had been obtained by surface quarrying of the surrounding soil, exposing the bedrock. Overlying the bedrock within the fort was a layer of occupation debris containing pottery, including the upper half of a decorated vessel. A substantial part of a large coarse vessel was found in the core of Rampart II.

Other finds include a small crucible and most of a well made stone bracelet.

J Rideout 1984.