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Keir, Easter Tarr
Earthwork (Prehistoric)
Site Name Keir, Easter Tarr
Classification Earthwork (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Keirhead
Canmore ID 24406
Site Number NN60SW 5
NGR NN 6377 0074
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/24406
- Council Stirling
- Parish Port Of Menteith
- Former Region Central
- Former District Stirling
- Former County Perthshire
NN60SW 5 6377 0074.
This site ('Keir' is evidently a corruption of 'Caer' = fort) (Chalmers 1887-94) is apparently wholly or partly artificial, and features a bank without a ditch, a type of antiquity that Crawford tentatively suggests may possibly be a broch, a theory, however, that is not to be fully accepted without further investigation (OS 6" map annotated by O G S Crawford, 9 June 1937). Chrystal (1903) also supports this suggestion. This particular example is occupied by a cottage (Ordnance Survey Name Book {ONB} 1898) (See NN60SW 4 and NN60SE 8 for similar sites).
Name Book 1898; G Chalmers 1887-94; W Chrystal 1903.
The site is a long, low, natural knoll on the approximate centre of which are the footings of a building, probably the predecessor of the modern cottage to the NW (ie. Keirhead); the level area to the south of this was possibly the cottage garden. To the north of this former building the ground is uneven and shows signs of surface quarrying. Although the situation is a good one there is now nothing to suggest that a defensive work existed on this knoll.
Visited by OS (E G C) 18 November 1968.
Field Visit (13 June 1957)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
Field Visit (August 1977)
'Keir', Easter Tarr NN 637 007 NN60SW 5
All that remains of this earthwork is an arc of a bank, which measures 7m thick and 0.8m high.
RCAHMS 1979, visited August 1977
(Name Book, Perthshire, no. 69, p. 78; Watson 1926, 371)
Note (6 December 2014 - 18 May 2016)
By tradition place-names including the element 'keir' in this part of Scotland denote an ancient place of strength, though the character of the archaeological remains found in these locations may vary from mottes to brochs or forts. In the case of Keirhead, a cottage with its garden depicted on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Perth and Clackmannan 1866, sheet 131.1-2), the character of any archaeological remains is uncertain, the OS in 1968 identifying traces of disturbance and surface quarrying, and RCAHMS investigators in 1957 and 1977 an arc of bank on the N some 7m in thickness by 0.8m in height. The topography, however, comprising a low knoll forming the W end of a terrace, with steep flanks dropping down on the N, E and S into a meander of the Tarr Burn, is a familiar location in the siting of small promontory works, and in this case there is sufficient space for an enclosure measuring at least 55m from NNW to SSE by 35m transversely (0.15ha). Clarification of the character of this site must await further work.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2617
