Elliot Water
Promontory Fort (Period Unassigned)(Possible)
Site Name Elliot Water
Classification Promontory Fort (Period Unassigned)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) 'Dunhead'
Canmore ID 34709
Site Number NO54SE 7
NGR NO 5775 4171
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/34709
- Council Angus
- Parish Carmyllie
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
NO54SE 7 5775 4171.
(NO 5775 4172) Earthwork (NR)
OS 6" map, (1970)
'Dunhead' (New Statistical Account [NSA] 1845). Of this alleged Roman Camp (information from OS 6" map, Forfarshire and Angus, 2nd ed., (1903) the bank running from NO 5751 4179 to NO 5769 4170 can be dismissed as an old field, or plantation, bank (Crawford 1949). It's present state is so mutilated by forestry operations as to be scarcely traceable - but where seen is 2-3m wide and only 0.3m high.
The bank running from N-S at NO 5769 4171 extends from one precipitous side of a promontory to the other, thus forming a triangular area centred at NO 5775 4172. This bank can be traced for 52m. The ditch, on the east of the bank, also extends to the escarpment edge.
The bank generally meaures 5.8m broad at base and 1.5m high but at the northern extremity it is only 3m wide and 0.5m high. The ditch is 3m wide and only 0.3m deep. 2m east of this the west edge of a kerb of stones is exposed in two places parallel to the ditch. Towards the south there is a scatter of stones on the line of the kerb- c.5m wide - which would appear to represent the course of another wall or rampart. If this is so, then it appears that here existed 2 strong walls or ramparts with medial ditch, cutting off a precipitous promontory. There are no indications of a wall around the perimeter of the promontory, and no internal structures were noted.
NSA 1845; O G S Crawford 1949; Visited by OS (JLD) 4 June 1958.
This possible promontory fort is generally as described except that the 'kerbing' and scatter of stones are not evident.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 12 May 1966.
Field Visit (2 August 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This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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 (26 May 2015 - 24 May 2016)
What may be a fortification is situated on a steepsided promntory at the confluence of the Black Burn with the Elliot Water. First identified as part of a Roman Camp in the 19th century (NSA, xi, Forfar, 358), and depicted on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Forfar1865, sheet 45.12), subsequent visits by O G S Crawford (1949, 138) and RCAHMS in 1956, concluded that most of the visible remains were field boundaries, but on the SE a bank up to 5.8m in thickness by 1.5m in height was observed cutting across the neck of the promontory. The bank, however, was accompanied on its E side by a ditch 3m broad and 0.3m deep, thus lying on its inner side, and though one OS surveyor in 1958 thought he could detect a kerb and a scatter of stones belonging to an inner rampart, a second surveyor in 1966 could see no trace of these. No fieldwork has been conducted since, but if indeed a promontory enclosure, measurements taken from the 1st edition OS 25-inch map indicate that the bank and ditch bar the W approaches to an area measuring about 120m from E to W by 30m transversely (0.28ha). No features have been noted within the interior, which is back under dense deciduous woodland.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 24 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3080
