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Montreathmont Moor
Cairnfield (Prehistoric), Field System (Prehistoric), Hut Circle (Prehistoric)
Site Name Montreathmont Moor
Classification Cairnfield (Prehistoric), Field System (Prehistoric), Hut Circle (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Bath Drum
Canmore ID 34868
Site Number NO55SE 12
NGR NO 5861 5417
NGR Description Centred at NO 5861 5417
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/34868
- Council Angus
- Parish Kinnell
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
NO55SE 12 584 540
NO 5855 5401 Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map, Forfarshire, 1st ed., (1865)
One of a number of 'circular heaps of moor stones' (see also NO55SE 1 and NO55SE 17 ), supposed to result from a battle between the Picts and the Romans.
NSA 1845; Name Book nd.
Not visited because of afforestation in 1958, but faint traces of this cairn were noted in 1966.
Visited by OS (JLD) 23 June 1958 and (Large Scale Reviser) 7 April 1966.
W of the cairn, at NO 5850 5400, a rubble wall enclosing an oval area 50yds in diameter and c. 2 acres in extent was exposed by forestry ploughing on almost the highest part of a shallow ridge.
It commanded an extensive view and in earlier times must have been flanked by bogs. There was no ditch. Professor Piggott visited the site but came to no conclusion.
Information contained in letters and map from Lord Southesk to Ordnance Survey, 14 May and 5 August 1971.
Field Visit (March 1978)
Montreathmont Moor NO 584 540 NO55SE 1 & 12
This site occupies the Battle Drum to the W of the wireless station on Montreathmont Moor. The long sides of the enclosure noted by Lord Southesk (centred NO 584 540) are formed by two banks running along the Drum, about 50m apart, and there would appear to be field boundaries and linear stone clearance. There are also short lengths of similar banks running parallel to the two, and, besides those which form the ends of the enclosure, at least one other cross bank. It is difficult to extend the remains westward on account of the vegetation, but in this area are recorded 4 cairns (NO55SE 1) which can no longer be located, and at NO 5826 5402 there is a hut circle which measures 10m in diameter E-W by 7.5m (crest to crest) with walls 0.25m high. The cairn noted at NO 5855 5401 is situated at the E end of the field-system and it seems probable that it, and those noted on NO55SE 1 are all field clearance, perhaps associated with the hut circle.
RCAHMS 1978, visited March 1978
(NSA, xi, Forfar, 399; Name Book, Forfar, No. 55, pp. 7-8)
