Allt Na Criche
Promontory Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Allt Na Criche
Classification Promontory Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 12286
Site Number NH41NW 1
NGR NH 40880 18481
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/12286
- Council Highland
- Parish Urquhart And Glenmoriston
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Inverness
- Former County Inverness-shire
NH41NW 1 4085 1836.
At NH 4085 1836 on a promontory overlooking Glen Moriston is a fort measuring about 35.0m N-S by 20.0m transversely. It is defended on the W, S and E sides by natural slopes and rock faces, and in the N, across the neck of the promontory by two ditches 2.0m - 2.5m wide and 0.4m - 0.8m deep, each with traces of a counterscarp formed by upcast from the ditches. Another ditch extends from the inner of the two ditches to defend the NW side of the promontory, and fades before reaching a rock outcrop. The higher S part of the fort is isolated by a stony scarp extending E-W across the promontory, but no set stones are visible to satisfactorily prove that this has been a wall. The entrance has been along the rim of the E slopes, where both the ditches and the scarp stop short of the edge.
See 1/1250 enlargement.
Surveyed at 1/10,560 (Visited by OS (R D) 11 May 1964
Visited by OS (NKB) 26 October 1964
(NH 4085 1836) Fort (NR)
OS 1/10,000 map, (1971)
The fort is as described and planned by the previous field investigator. The bank north of the fort on the OS 1/10,000 map is a later feature. Other similar banks, presumably early modern, are in the vicinity. Published survey (1/10,000) revised.
Visited by OS (JB) 17 May 1979
The slightness of the defences at this site, and the extremely small internal area, suggest that this was never a "fort" in the conventional sense. The site does command excellent views of the glen in both directions, however, and it might best be viewed as a lightly-defended lookout post. Despite a careful search of a wide area around and below the site, no contemporary settlement could be identified.
The bank to the NE of the promontory which cuts off higher ground to the N is not part of the defences. It forms only a short stretch of an extensive feature comprising a narrow and shallow ditch, with the upcast forming a low bank on the S/SW side which can be seen to continue for over a kilometre in ither direction. The date and function of this feature is not known. (see amended plan).
Visited by Highland Regional Council (RBG) 18 March 1987
Note (3 March 2015 - 24 December 2016)
The remains of a small fortification occupy a rocky spur that forms a promontory projecting SSW out of the hillside on the W bank of Allt na Criche. Its defences comprise two ditches up to 2.5m broad and from 0.4m to 0.8m deep, with low external counterscarp banks, which bar access from the hillside on the N, and a single ditch on the NW running back towards the rock-faces on this flank of the spur; elsewhere the ground falls away in steep and rocky slopes and has apparently been left undefended. The interior measures about 35m from N to S by 20m transversely (0.05ha), rising up to a summit at its S end where a stony scarp cuts across from E to W to form an inner enclosure. The entrance follows the E margin of the spur, where all the defences terminate short of the crest of the slope. The outer defences in particular are of relatively slight proportions and it is possible that these are simply outworks to the even smaller inner enclosure on the summit.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 24 December 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2869
