Loaninghead
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Loaninghead
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 25903
Site Number NN90NW 1
NGR NN 92391 09999
NGR Description Centred NN 9238 1003
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/25903
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Blackford
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NN90NW 1 centred 9238 1003
Extends onto map sheet NN91SW.
(NN 9238 1003) Earthwork (NR).
OS 6" map, (1958)
A fort occupying the whole of an oval eminence, rising about 25ft above a field on the NE side, and only 8 or 10' above one on the SW side. This eminence forms the central part of a little ridge and is approached from each end by narrow necks, 'B' and 'D'. The entrance, 'I' 'K', is from the field to the SE. The defences at the ends 'A' 'B' and 'C' 'D' consist of a steep scarp from the interior, falling on a trench, beyond which is a rampart and second trench. On the NE face, 'E' 'F', the trenches pass into terraces which have no parapets. On the SW face, where they are most required, the defences are entirely gone.
D Christison 1900.
The remains of this fort are generally as described by Christison, except that there are two ramparts at the south end, and the defences sweep round the west side to a greater extent than he states. A slight hollow-way in the middle of the west side may indicate a second entrance. The outer rampart appears to run across the mouth of the SE entrance.
Traces of a possible ring-ditch house, 16.5m in diameter can be seen in the interior.
The site is thickly wooded and much obscured by fallen trees and bracken.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (W D J) 6 July 1967.
Field Visit (29 April 1956)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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.
Note (17 December 2014 - 16 August 2016)
This fort occupies a low hillock within the W angle of the motorway interchange with the A823 public road to Gleneagles. The defences comprise three ramparts with intermediate ditches, which have probably encircled the whole hillock, though the outer ramparts have been levelled by cultivation on the SW flank, and the inner has been reduced to little more than a scarp. The oval interior measures about 70m from NW to SE by 35m transversely (0.19ha); in 1967 the OS noted traces of a ring-ditch house some 16.5m in diameter in the SE half, and there is probably a second immediately within the line of the rampart on the SSE. They also suggested that the entrance on the SE is blocked by the outer rampart, and that there were possibly traces of a second entrance on the W.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 16 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2640
Note (5 December 2023)
Title: Interdisciplinary approaches to a connected landscape: upland survey in the Northern Ochils.
Authors: Michael Given, Oscar Aldred, Kevin Grant, Peter McNiven and Tessa Poller
Journal: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 148, pages 83-111
Publisher: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh
Publication date: 2019
From: MCE 2023. This project was reviewed as part of the Grant-Aided Project Review (GAPR). Publication was completed in 2019. Open Access publication with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Publication grant-aided by HES
