Archaeology Notes

Event ID 729388

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/729388

NY19SE 10 1838 9403.

(NY 1838 9403) Fort (NR)

OS 6"map, (1958)

A fort, some 210' by 120', longest axis NE-SW. On the NW a stony rampart, formed in part by cutting away the interior of a narrow ridge of rock, was apparently surmounted by a wall, the whole about 11' high. On the exterior, a shoulder about 5' from the crest divides into two distinct gradients, the upper probably encumbered with wall debris. An entrance at the SE opens into a hollow which appears to have been excavated. Behind the hollow is a circular depression, 34' by 28', cut out of rock on the upper side, while to the right of the hollow, a slight ridge indicates an oval foundation, probably of a hut circle. There may have been a second entrance by a ramp a little SE of the first.

RCAHMS 1920

On top of Carthur Hill is an oval fort measuring internally 57.0m NE-SW by 34.0m transversely within the remains of an earth-and-stone rampart, best preserved on the W side where it measures 6.0m wide and up to 1.8m high. On the SE where the rampart followed the top of a steep natural slope, it has been severely denuded, and in the NE and NW are the unsurveyable traces of an outer ditch. In the NW a terrace follows the rampart for c. 40m. The entrance is in the SW. A probable house platform occupies the centre of the fort, and measures 11.0m N-S by 9.0m transversely. There are possible sites of three others in the interior. Two small quarries 30m N of the site probably supplied some of the material for the ramparts.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (D W R) 20 March 1972

Listing this site among 'Non-defensive settlements with round timber-built huts', Jobey adds, 'Though situated at altitude, on a shelf, there is no real pretence at defence in the artificial perimeter.'

G Jobey 1971

This fort is as described in previous field report.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (J R L) 22 September 1978.