North Mains, Strathallan
Fort (Period Unassigned), Pit(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name North Mains, Strathallan
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned), Pit(S) (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Waulkmill; Bernie
Canmore ID 26000
Site Number NN91NW 12
NGR NN 9282 1581
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/26000
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Blackford
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NN91NW 12 9282 1581.
(NN 9282 1585) Cropmarks of native settlement.
Visible on J K St Joseph air photographs, TW 10, ACD 64, AGO 92.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
There is no trace of this earthwork on the ground. It would appear to have consisted of a double bank and ditch forming the segment of a circle, with the chord resting on a low escarpment.
Site surveyed at 1/2500 from air-photos and ground inspection.
Visited by OS (W D J) 23 May 1967.
The site appears on aerial photographs as an enclosure measuring about 50m across within double ditches. The greater part of the enclosed areas lies on a plateau above the Machany Water but the defences include part of the low ground on the bank of the Water. An entrance was clearly visible through both ditches in the SW.
Two trenches were laid out, one to examine part of the entrance (area 1), the other to examine a sample of the interior (area 2).
Area 1 was opened over the N half of the entrance, to allow investigation of the two ditch butts and to reveal any gate structure. In the event only the inner ditch butt could be sectioned in the time available. It was 4m broad and 2.2m deep with very steep sides. A single substantial posthole lay on the very edge of the ditch on the inner side. Surface investigation and limited excavation on the outer ditch showed that further postholes lay in comparable positions around the inner and outer edges of the outer ditch.
Area 2 revealed a scatter of postholes probably forming the supporting structure for the roof of a round house and, at the edge of the trench, an arc of the wall groove of a further house. The groove was a very slight feature. One of the posts had been burnt in situ. It is hoped that it can be radiocarbon dated. No artefacts were recovered.
G Barclay 1987.
Scheduled as Bernie, fort.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 13 December 2000.
Excavation (1987)
The site appears on aerial photographs as an enclosure measuring about 50m across within double ditches. The greater part of the enclosed areas lies on a plateau above the Machany Water but the defences include part of the low ground on the bank of the Water. An entrance was clearly visible through both ditches in the SW.
Two trenches were laid out, one to examine part of the entrance (area 1), the other to examine a sample of the interior (area 2).
Area 1 was opened over the N half of the entrance, to allow investigation of the two ditch butts and to reveal any gate structure. In the event only the inner ditch butt could be sectioned in the time available. It was 4m broad and 2.2m deep with very steep sides. A single substantial posthole lay on the very edge of the ditch on the inner side. Surface investigation and limited excavation on the outer ditch showed that further postholes lay in comparable positions around the inner and outer edges of the outer ditch.
Area 2 revealed a scatter of postholes probably forming the supporting structure for the roof of a round house and, at the edge of the trench, an arc of the wall groove of a further house. The groove was a very slight feature. One of the posts had been burnt in situ. It is hoped that it can be radiocarbon dated. No artefacts were recovered.
G Barclay 1987.
Note (17 December 2014 - 18 May 2016)
This fortification is situated at an angle in the edge of a broad terrace that forms a spur of higher ground projecting SE into a meander of the Machany Water. The escarpment on the E is steep and evidently river cut, but on the S it presents a much gentler profile. Whether the artificial defences were originally drawn across this gentler slope is unknown, but elsewhere on the W and NW cropmarks have revealed two roughly concentric ditches about 4m in breadth swinging in a slightly angular arc across the terrace to rest on the lip of the escarpment on the E. The interior thus defined measures at least 60m from N to S by up to 40m transversely (0.25ha), perhaps extending to some 0.2 ha when allowance is made for the presence of upcast ramparts. The entrance, which was partly excavated in 1987 (Barclay and Tolan 1990), is marked by a clearly-defined causeway on the W. The excavation demonstrated that the inner ditch was some 2m deep, and located a number of post-holes along the lips of both ditches, which were interpreted as the remains of associated fences. Trial excavation in the interior revealed a scatter of post-holes and an arc of the foundation trench of a timber round-house. Charcoal from a burnt oak post in the interior returned a radiocarbon date of 390-110 cal BC, but charcoal recovered from a rectangular stone floor in the upper fill of the inner ditch was dated to 1740-1320 cal BC. While the excavator opted to interpret this as evidence that the enclosure is Bronze Age, the taphonomy of this latter sample is unclear, and in the present state of knowledge the later Iron Age date is probably to be preferred for the use of the fortifications.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2642
Aerial Photographic Transcription (18 September 2020)
An interpretative transcription, or mapping, of information on oblique aerial photographs was produced on 18 September 2020.
Information from HES Designations (F.I. Watson) 16 December 2022.
