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Red Head
Promontory Fort (Iron Age), Slit Trench (Second World War)
Site Name Red Head
Classification Promontory Fort (Iron Age), Slit Trench (Second World War)
Canmore ID 36217
Site Number NO74NW 2
NGR NO 7013 4740
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36217
- Council Angus
- Parish Inverkeilor
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
NO74NW 2 7013 4740
Red Head promontory is cut off by a single rampart and a broad ditch, much obscured by recent slit trenches and observation posts. A long trench seems to have been cut through the length of the rampart, and shows it to be composed of loose stones. There were traces of an occupation layer about half-way up the side of the slit trench. Information from E M Wilson letter, 6 November 1961; Mr and Mrs J Wilson 1961
NT 7013 4740. The remains of a promontory fort, as described above. The rampart is so mutilated by the trenches that no accurate measurements can be made, except at the S end, where its interior height is 1.0m. In front of the rampart is a natural gully which has been utilised to form an additional hazard; its bottom is now c. 3.7m below the top of the rampart. There is a causeway across the gully or ditch leading to what might be a mutilated entrance placed centrally in the rampart.
Surveyed at 1;2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ), 20 October 1965.
Field Visit (March 1978)
Red Head NO 701 474 NO74NW 2
There is a coastal promontory fort on Red Head defended by a single rampart which was severely damaged during the second World War.
RCAHMS 1978, visited March 1978
(DES, 1961, 5; Coutts 1970, 37, no. 26)
Note (5 June 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fortification occupies a promontory a little N of the highest point along the cliff-line of Red Head. Roughly triangular on plan, the interior measures about 70m from NNE to SSW by 55m transversely (0.28ha), falling away precipitously on the E and S, and defended elsewhere by a single rampart with an external ditch drawn in an arc to bar access from the NW and W. The rampart has been mutilated by the excavation of a trench during WW11 along much of its length, but at its S end it still stands 1m high above the level of the interior and 3.7m above the bottom of the ditch, which in this sector has been adapted from a natural gully. The entrance is in the centre of the arc on the W and is approached by a causeway across the ditch. The interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3102
