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Field Visit

Date 15 April 1957

Event ID 927561

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/927561

FORT, THE DOUNE OF RELUGAS. The district and village of Relugas are situated in the angle between the rivers Findhorn and Divie immediately S of their confluence. The N apex of this area consists of a promontory measuring about a quarter of a mile from E to W by a little less from N to S which is bounded to the W by the River Findhorn and to the N, E and SE by the lowest ridges of the River Divie. The 300 foot contour runs a short distance within the W, N and E limits of the promontory, and Relugas House* stood near the central point at a height of about 330 feet above sea level. Immediately E of the site of the house the whole of the SE part of the promontory is occupied by a steep-sided rocky eminence which rises to a height of about 70 feet above the level of the site of the house and about 100 feet above the River Divie, which borders it to E. and S. From the summit of the hill, at about 400 feet above sea level there is an uninterrupted view over the lower Findhorn Valley to the Shore of the Moray Firth at Culbin Sands, nine miles to the N.

The hill is crowned by the remains of a small vitrified fort consisting of a single wall surrounding the flat summit plateau which measures 165 feet from ENE to WSW by 100 feet transversely. Almost all traces of the wall have been obliterated and destroyed by a terrace-wall which borders the perimeter of the summit and by a drystone dyke, now ruinous, that runs round at a distance of 10 feet or 12 feet inside it. The ground within the area bounded by the dyke has been under cultivation, and among a large pile of stones and boulders cleared from it which stands beside the entrance, in the E , there are numerous masses of vitrified ones and boulders. Similar masses, tumbled from the ruin of the wall, were observed on the flanks of the hill. The flanks of the hill fall at an angle of between 30 and 40 deg. in all directions for between 40 and 50 feet. To E. and S. the lowest slopes continue thereafter steeply to the River Divie, and no further lines of defence can be distinguished along them. To and N., however, where the knoll rises only from the promontory described above, further defences were required. By digging a ditch along a line somewhat above the actual base of the hill and throwing the spoil outwards the constructors formed a large and partly natural rampart with the ditch on its inner side. In the W. arc there is a rise of as much as 25 feet from the general level of the promontory to the crest of the rampart. From the crest there is a drop of 5 feet to the bottom of the ditch, and then a rise of 55 feet to the summit of the hill.

While classifications and groupings of hill forts in the N and W of Scotland must have been made on very tentative bases until more facts become available, it can at least be observed that this fort is more remarkable for its situation than for its size. Other vitrified forts in the vicinity which merit the same observation are Dun Evan and Dun Finlay and possibly the structure called Dun Davie where vitrifaction was reported in 18(_) , but has not been seen since. Other such small vitrified forts, with or without outer works, occur W of Inverness, in the Great Glen, and on the W coast, and the three or four mentioned here may represent the easter-most penetration of the type. If, as it is at least reasonable to suggest in the present state of knowledge, the small forts were the work of different peoples from the builders of the larger vitrified forts, then it may be constructive to note here that the latter include Knock Farril in Strathpeffer, the most northerly, the Ord of Kessock, Craig Phadraig and Dunearn on the W. side of the Buchan Massif, and the Tap O’ Noth, Dunnideer, Finavon, Green Cairn, Abernethy and Forgandenny further S.

Visited by RCAHMS 15 April 1957.

*On the date of visit almost all traces of Relugas House had been removed, but its site can be seen on the 1906 edition of the 6 inch map

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