Denork Craig
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Denork Craig
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 33011
Site Number NO41SE 5
NGR NO 4561 1370
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/33011
- Council Fife
- Parish Cameron
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
NO41SE 5 4561 1370.
(NO 4561 1370) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map (1959)
The fort on the summit of Denork Craig consists of a stone wall about 12' thick, enclosing an area measuring 450' x 150'. The wall follows closely round the top of outcrops and cliffs, and the lower courses of outer facing stones lie well over the edge. At one time it was considered to be of post-Roman date, but there is now better reason to suppose that it is pre-Roman. Watson (1926) suggests that the name "Denork" contains a tribal name "Orcoi" - "boars".
R W Feachem 1963; F T Wainwright 1955
When visited in 1956 and 1964, this fort was found to be as described and planned above. The grass-covered stone rampart was best preserved on the N, where it averaged 3.0m - 4.0m in width and 1.0m in height; elsewhere it was traceable as a scarping of indeterminate height of the natural slopes except where mutilated by quarrying. Facing stones could be seen in the N at points where the grass was missing. On the SE was an entrance, c.8.0m wide, and a terrace-way leading down the hill-slope, while on the NW the rampart was broken by a modern entrance, with steps cut in the hill-face.
Visited by OS (DS) 18 October 1956 and (RDL) 27 May 1964
No change.
Revised at 25".
Visited by OS (DWR) 21 May 1974.
Field Visit (23 April 1952)
Denork Craig, three-quarters of a mile W of Denhead, is a small isolated hill girt by steep rocky slopes which steadily increase in height from 15 ft at the E end of the hill to over 50 ft at the W. end. Both the ends of the hill have been partly quarried away in former times while a reservoir has recently been constructed in the low ground at the base on the SW. The whole of the available space on the top of the hill has been enclosed by a stone wall , 12 ft in thickness, to form a quasi-elliptical fort measuring 465 ft in length by 135 ft in breadth at the centre (See plan FID 11/1). For the greater part of the circuit the wall has been entirely destroyed by stone-robbing or by the erosion of the lip of the crags on which it stood, but outer facing stones can still be seen in a few places, notably just below the present margin of the hill-top in the centre of the S side, while the stone core also survives intermittently as a low, usually turf-covered bank. The best preserved piece of wall occurs at the W. end of the hill where, for a short distance, both faces are present and the outer face, which is bedded directly on the rock and is composed of large blocks of stone up to 2 ft. 6 ins. in length, still stands three courses (3 ft. 6 ins.) in height. A rock-cut passage which traverses the steep slope on the S. Side of the fort presumably represents an original entrance, and another similar passage at the W. end of the hill, which now carries a modern flight of steps, may likewise be original. The interior of the fort consists of a number- of rock outcrops with level grassy spaces between them, and no signs of structures.
Visited by RCAHMS (KAS) 23 April 1952
Reference (1957)
This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).
Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.
Field Visit (21 May 1974)
No change.
Revised at 25".
Visited by OS (DWR) 21 May 1974.
Field Visit (10 October 2012)
This fort, situated on a prominent crag, was noted and surveyed by K Steer of RCAHMS in 1952 during the Marginal Land Survey and was subsequently described by Feachem (1955) – his inked plan is based on that of 1952 - Feachem (1963), and staff of the OS Archaeology Division in 1956, 1964 and 1974.
The dimensions were recorded in 1952 as 465 ft (142m) from WNW to ESE by 135 ft (41m), and the stone wall as 12 ft (3.7m) in thickness and up to 3 ft 6 in (1m) in height (RCAHMS TS). The fort wall is best preserved in the WNW half where stretches of inner and outer wall face are visible, whereas much of the rest of the stone has been robbed. Access for robbing is easiest along the SE part of the circuit and it is here that the scars of robber trenches are most visible.
As noted in 1952, there are two rock-cut entrances, one in the ENE side and one in the WSW side. The second appears to be the more substantial and may be original. A quarry opened in the late 19th century has removed part of the rampart and interior of the fort at the ESE end, but the remains of what may be at least one outer line of defence is visible as a turf-grown stony bank on the slope immediately E of the fort wall, and S of the quarry edge. The interior of the fort is grass-grown and affected by burrows, and no archaeological features were noted on the date of visit.
Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, AGCH) 10 October 2012
Note (3 July 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fort is situated on a craggy hillock which has been quarried for rock at both the E and W ends. Roughly oval on plan, it measures about 142m from ESE to WNW by 41m transversely (0.5ha) within a heavily-robbed wall about 3.7m in thickness. Both faces are visible for a short distance on the WNW, where the outer face still stands 1m high in three courses, while the line of the outer face can be traced along parts of the S side to the W of an entrance passage that has been cut obliquely through the rocks forming the lip of the crag on the SE. What is probably a second entrance has been cut in a similar fashion through the edge of the crag on the WNW, but has been reworked with a modern flight of steps. Outcrop lies immediately below the turf across much of the interior, which is otherwise featureless. First recorded during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands, a subsequent visit by RCAHMS investigators in 2012 noted a possible outer rampart reduced to a stony bank on the slope below the wall at the E end.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3166
