Middle Knox
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Middle Knox
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 36843
Site Number NO87SW 16
NGR NO 8171 7027
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36843
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Benholm
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO87SW 16 8171 7027.
(NO 8171 7027) Fort (NR)
OS 1:10000 map (1973)
At NO 8171 7027, on the S spur of Gourdon Hill, there are the much reduced remains of a fort or settlement measuring 84.0m NE-SW by 39.0m transversely, enclosed by a turf-covered stony rampart, maximum height about 1.0m, and supplemented by an outer rampart about 0.5m high on the N side across the neck of the spur. The work is defended on the other sides by fairly steep natural slopes. The entrance, 2.0m wide, is in
the NW. Inside, immediately S of the entrance, are the vague footings of a small enclosure about 12.0m across, possibly a hut circle.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visible on AP's (RAF/CPE/Scot/330: 3094-5, flown 1948).
Visited by OS (NKB) 20 December 1967
Field Visit (March 1982)
Middle Knox NO 817 702 NO87SW 16
On a steep-sided spur 600m E of Middle Knox farmhouse there is an oval fort measuring 79m by 36m internally. On the NE and NW, where there are also traces of an outer rampart, the main rampart survives as a mound of rubble 3.1m thick and 0.6m high, but elsewhere it has been reduced to a low scarp along which several stretches of outer facing stones are visible. There is a probable entrance midway along the NW side.
RCAHMS 1982, visited March 1982
Note (9 June 2015 - 18 May 2016)
This fort is situated on a spur that projects SSW from the lower flank of Bikmane Hill above Nether Knox. The ground falls away particularly steeply on the SE and SW and to a lesser extent on the NW, but is easily approached from the main hill on the NE. Oval on plan, the fort itself measures 79m from NE to SW by 36m transversely (0.22ha) within a rampart variously reduced to a mound of rubble 3m in thickness by 0.6m in height and a scarp along which several runs of outer facing-stones can be seen. On the NW and NE additional protection is provided by an outer rampart, now little more than 0.5m high. There is a possible entrance on the NW. In 1967 Keith Blood of the OS suggested there were vague footings of an enclosure or hut-circle 12m across immediately S of the entrance, but this was not found when RCAHMS investigators visited in 1982.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3108
