Field Visit
Date 12 April 1957
Event ID 926063
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/926063
Fort, Ord Hill, Kessock
This fort occupies the summit of the Ord Hill, a conglomerate ridge which rises to a height 633 feet O. D. immediately N of the narrows at the entrance of t he Beauly Firth. The hill forms a natural pair with Craig Phadrig (NH64NW 6), three miles to the SE, but is both higher and longer. At the date of visit the whole hill was planted with well-grown conifers of no great age and the remains of the fort were measured only with some difficulty. The fort, which i s irregularly sub-rectangular on plan with comparatively straight long sides, measures about 900 feet in length from NE to SW by about 230 feet in maximum width within the ruin of a substantial stone wall. For most of its length this appears as a spread of blocks and stones which varies in that many of these have fallen down the steep NW and SE flanks of the hill. I n particular there are several gaps where no traces of the wall can be seen i n the vicinity of the steepest part of t he SE flank. The best -preserved sectors of the wall are those that enclose the SW quarter of the fort; they lie on comparatively level ground the approach to which is not difficult, and it is probable therefore t hat they were constructed, or reconstructed, to provide a mor e formidable barrier than was necessary at the crest of the steeper slopes bordering the rest of the perimeter. The entrance lies in the S corner. At a point in the SE sector of the wall at a distance of between 30 yards and 40 yards NE of the entrance a stretch of solid vitrifaction, apparently consisting , of wall blocks fused to each other, and to the conglomerate below them, was seen on the day of visit. The magnitude and extent of this vitrified mass suggests that the fort was probably originally formed by a heavy timber laced wall and may have been comparable i n size and strength to the largest of t his class in the region. To W and NW of the entrance the wall assumes a different appearance, consisting of two virtually parallel broad bands of tumbled blocks and stones which lie about 30 feet apart and are each spread to a width of about 20 feet or 25 feet. The inner of these two stretches forms the first 60 yards of the main wall as this leaves the W side of the entrance, and the outer covers it for this distance before dying out on the steep NW flank of the hill. The precise arrangement of the three walls near t he entrance was difficult t o trace on the day of visit because of vegetation and fallen branches, but it appears to be as shown on the sketch plan (RCD 1/1). Three hut circles each about 10 feet in internal diameter that lie close to the ruin of the wall in the S may be comparatively recent in date.
NH 663 491, OS Sheet c.
Visited by RCAHMS 12th April 1957
