Dun Davie

NH73NW 11 7188 3930.

(NH 7188 3930) Dun Davie (NAT)

OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed, (1903)

Dun Daviot is a promontory fort with a univallate vitrified defence, difficult of access except from the E and W sides. The hill itself is a cone-shaped eminence, flattened on its apex, rising to a height of c. 150' - 200'. The fortified area is c. 120' x 60', surrounded by a single wall of loose stones now standing only c. 2' high.

G Anderson 1857; M A Cotton 1954.

The RCAHMS describe the remains of the wall as slight, spread to c. 18', but where outer facing stones are visible at one place in the W arc and another in the N arc, a wall thickness of c. 10' is indicated. The entrance is in the SE.

A low scarp runs round the NW face of the knoll to the W flank, varying from 10' at the NW to 67' at its termination, from the fort wall. From the point where this scarp bends S, a scatter of stones carries on E in an arc 75' long, and ends 10' from the crest of the SE slope. This scarp would appear to represent the scarcely recognisable remains of an outer defence. A low rocky platform to the SW is partly crossed by a straight stretch of rubble bank 73' long and spread up to 10' wide, accompanied on the SW for 2/3 of its length by a shallow quarry ditch. While it is possible that this feature formed part of the defences of the fort, its inadequacy in its present form is obvious.

Information from RCAHMS Ms 1957, visited 1957.

Occupying the flat summit of a rocky hill known locally as Dun Davie, in cleared woodland, are the mutilated remains of a sub-oval fort which has measured c. 28.0m NE-SW by c. 18.0m. The S arc is completely destroy- ed but elsewhere the wall is turf-covered and spread to c. 5.0m with only two or three outer facing stones surviving in the W. There is no trace of vitrifaction. No entrance can be seen and the interior is featureless.

To the N and NW of the fort, at a lower level, is an irregular scarp, described by RCAHMS as an apparent outer defence, which is fronted in places by traces of a "terrace". There is no indication that this is artificial, though it is in a good position to be used as an outer defence line. The continuing scatter of stones noted by RCAHMS is

almost certainly tumble from the fort.

About 30.0m SW of the fort, crossing the shoulder of the hill, is a wall spread to c. 1.5m, noted by RCAHMS as a "rubble bank". It is in a poor defensive position, and the evidence of several stones extending in a line SW of the SE extremity of the wall suggest the remains of an enclosure of uncertain period and purpose. The "quarry ditch" is almost certainly natural.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (N K B) 15 April 1970.

NH 7188 3930 Works at Dun Davie, Daviot Quarry (NMRS NH73NW 11) comprised a preliminary survey of the southern limit of the scheduled area including the spoil dump; the removal, by a combination of machine and hand, of dumped spoil within the scheduled area; and a full topographic survey of the site.

Sponsor: Tarmac Quarry Products Ltd.

T Rees 1997

Scheduled as 'Dun Davie, fort.'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 21 December 1973.