Field Visit

Date 16 August 1911

Event ID 887670

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/887670

Fort (vitrified), Trusty's Hill.

In an undulating region of rocky hillocks, and midway between the church of Anwoth and Gatehouse-of-Fleet, there rises a hill, more conspicuous than its neighbours, to a height of between 150 and 200 feet, and known as Trusty's Hill. It lies with its main axis north-west and south-east, slopes up by a gradual incline from the latter direction, and is steep, and in places craggy, on the flanks and at the north -west end. Towards the north, at a level some 30 feet or thereby below the summit, it is connected by a neck with rising rocky ground beyond. The summit of this hill is crowned by a fort reputed to be vitrified, but though vitrified material is still to 'be picked up on it s surface, where the summit rampart has not been torn up, it is so overgrown with turf that it is impossible now to estimate the extent of the vitrifaction. The actual summit, which is very uneven, measures some 95 feet in length by 64 feet in breadth. It has been surrounded by a stony rampart or wall , enclosing at its south-east end, and at some 6 feet lower level, two projecting rocks 11 feet apart, between which has evidently been an approach. On the top of each rock there is an artificial hollow, that on the north circular with an interior diameter of 11 feet and a depth of about 2 feet, that on the south sub-oval measuring diametrically 31 feet by 23 feet. Some 15 feet or thereby out from the face of these rocks there passes segmentally from the south side to within 25 feet of the north edge of the ridge a breastwork , for the most part composed of outcropping rock. It in turn has been covered at 21 feet distant down the slope by another outwork (from the surface of which low point s of rock also protrude), visible to within 12 feet of the north edge and thereafter seeming to return uphill so as to flank the approach which has passed along the edge of the north slope. Beneath this lowest outwork the hill extends in a somewhat level plateau towards the south-east before descending with a steepish gradient to its base. To defend the fort from attack on the north by way of the neck before mentioned, a deep trench has been cut across that feature in part through the rock, 14 feet in width, 10 to 11 feet deep on the scarp or higher side, and 5 feet on the opposite slope, while the steep scarp has been rendered more formidable by the addition of a stony rampart along its crest, about 11 feet in thickness a t base. At its extreme west end , where it approaches the craggy face of the hill , the course of the trench has been interrupted by an approach to the interior passing by the termination of the surmounting rampart.

RCAHMS 1914, visited 16 August 1911