Fisherhills

Cropmarks have revealed a fortification occupying a steep-sided promontory overlooking Fisherhills, where a subsidiary scarp cuts back SSW from the escarpment dropping down to the S bank of the River North Esk; on the terrace between Fisherhills and the foot of the scarp aerial photography has also revealed the site of an early medieval barrow cemetery comprising four circular barrows and one square. The principal defence is a pair of concentric ditches on the SW, which cut off a triangular area measuring 70m from NE to SW by a maximum of 55m transversely (0.22ha). The outer is about 3m in breadth, but the inner, set some 5m within its line, is up to 10m in breadth, which allowing for a commensurate internal rampart reduces the interior to about 0.17ha. These, however, are not the only ditches cutting across the promontory and two others, neither more than 3m in breadth, can be seen within the interior. The first cuts across in a gentle arc some 35m from the tip of the promontory, enclosing an area a maximum of 30m in breadth and no more than 0.06ha in extent. The cropmarks of the second, which lie 10m outside the first, are fairly indistinct and may be no more than 2m broad. The interior is otherwise featureless and no entrances have been recorded.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3105