Archaeology Notes

Event ID 706236

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/706236

NS89NW 10 8094 9565.

(NS 8094 9565) Fort (NR)

OS 1:10000 map (1979)

Fort, Abbey Craig: Near the N end of Abbey Craig there is a fort, which has been damaged by the construction within it of the Wallace Monument. All that remain is a substantial turf-covered bank, crescentic on plan and 260ft in length, the ends of which lie close to the brink of the precipice that forms the W face of the hill. The bank stands to a maximum height of 5ft above the level of the interior and presumably represents a ruined timber-laced wall since numerous pieces of vitrified stones have been found on the slopes immediately below it. The entrance presumably lay between one end of the bank and the lip of the precipice, but both of the areas concerned have been disturbed by the construction of modern approaches. The featureless interior of the fort measures about 175ft N-S by about 125ft. Nimmo's editor reports that 'eleven brazen spears' were discovered on Abbey Craig in 1784 (W Nimmo 1880).

A partly polished dolerite axe, 3 by 1in, found on the top of Abbey Craig, was donated to the Smith Institute, Stirling, in 1888 (Acc No: AC 4).

RCAHMS 1963, visited 1952; Smith Institute 1934

The remains of a fort as described.

Revised at 1:1250.

Visited by OS (JP) 11 December 1973

About 30m outside the main rampart of this fort on the E side of the hill are the remains of a second rampart. Running SE from the precipitous NW edge of the hill as a stony bank 3.5m thick and 0.9m high for 18m before being cut by a sunken path, it continues as a level terrace with a face 1.2m high round the E side of the hill for a distance of 75m, for the last 14m of which the rubble wall core is showing. After this its course is obscured by modern debris but may continue on the N side of the approach road. Few vitrified rocks were noted in its fabric.

N B Aitchison 1981

Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1979.

NS 8094 9565 An archaeological watching brief was conducted on all ground-breaking works associated with the insertion of a new floodlighting system for the Wallace Monument. Much of this work was carried out within the Scheduled area around the remaining rampart of the Abbey Craig hillfort. Two phases of rampart building were identified, comprising the secondary building of an earth and stone rampart over a timber-laced rampart which had been vitrified. In addition, an upstanding stretch of vertically faced rampart was uncovered during the works. Four charcoal samples were recovered during the monitoring and two of these are to be sent for radiocarbon dating.

Full report lodged with the NMRS.

Sponsor: Stirling District Tourism Ltd.

B Glendinning 2001