Kittock's Den
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Kittock's Den
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 34284
Site Number NO51NE 1
NGR NO 5532 1505
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/34284
- Council Fife
- Parish St Andrews And St Leonards
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
NO51NE 1 5532 1505.
NO 554 152. This earthwork is formed by a massive bank and ditch which isolates the promontory between the ravine known as Kittock's Den and a sea-cliff 100ft high. Although heavily ploughed down 'the rampart can hardly have been less than 50ft in thickness..., while the ditch has been at least 55ft in width.'
The area enclosed, about 285ft in length by 260ft maximum width, slopes gently towards the NW and contains no trace of buildings. The original entrance was probably between the end of the defences on the SE and the ravine, the gap at the other end being secondary. A cart-track which climbs the west face of the ravine, in recent use, may represent an improved version of an original access between the earthwork and the shore.
The field containing the antiquity is known as 'Castle Acre' and, although this may refer solely to the bank and ditch, in conjunction with the massive nature of the defences, it suggests that the earthwork is medieval rather than prehistoric.
RCAHMS TS and plan, 14 June 1964
NO 5532 1505. This promontory fort is generally as described by the Commission. The rampart now measures c.30.0m in width and 1.5m in height and the ditch, of which a mere suggestion remains, is spread to about 25.0m in width.
Visited by OS (JLD) 22 October 1956
No change.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (EGC) 3 September 1968.
Kittock's Den Fort
Massive bank and ditch isolting promontaryy between Kittock's Den and 100 ft. sea cliff.
Site recorded by Maritime Fife during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, Fife Ness to Newburgh 1996
Scheduled as Kittock's Den, fort.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 20 June 2002.
Field Visit (14 June 1954)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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.
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.
Note (10 July 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fortification occupies a steep-sided promontory between the W side of Kittock's Den and the coastal escarpment. Bounded by a massive bank with an external ditch barring access from the SW, it had been ploughed down before being discovered during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands, but more recently it has been incorporated into a golf course. Triangular on plan, the interior measures 87m from NE to SW by a maximum of 80m transversely (0.4ha) immediately to the rear of the massive rampart, which is spread up to 30m in thickness by 1.5m in height. The external ditch has been equally massive, forming a shallow depression some 25m in breadth. RCAHMS investigators who first noted the fort argued that the entrance lay along the edge of the den on the E margin of the promontory, but an old track that obliquely climbs the slope on this side and reaches the top towards the seaward tip might equally well mark the position of an original entrance. In the course of the golf course works the featureless interior was buried under some 0.3m of topsoil.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3173
