Cow Castle

The gorge of the Culter Water provides access to an attractive group of minor valleys containing a remarkable collection of prehistoric and later monuments, which include at least six defended settlements, a crannog and numerous cultivation terraces.

The best preserved of the remains is the multi-period fort known as Cow Castle. On the ground its jumble of ramparts is difficult to disentangle, but with the aid of an aerial photograph and an interpretative plan, the various phases can be readily distinguished. Two main periods are represented, with the defences of the earlier work being partially overlain or reused in the later phase. In Period 1 the defences comprise two ramparts and ditches (lA and B) with, on the inner side of the south section of lA, a quarry scoop dug to provide additional material for the rampart. Access was provided by two inturned gateways placed close to the steep north-west flank of the hill. This is a characteristic position for gateways on prehistmic earthworks, as it makes maximum use of the defensive potential of the site, while on similar medieval sites the entrances are frequently more centrally placed. In the second period the area enclosed was reduced in size with the construction of ramparts HA and B, but wherever possible sections of the earlier defences were used. Traces of at least three ling-ditch houses are visible within the forti one, on the north-east, appears to belong to Period 1 as its outer wall-line is cut by the Period H ditch, and the others were probably built during Period II (although their wall-lines must have become very close to the rampart).

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).

This fort is situated on part of a long steep-sided ridge that rises up on the SE side of the valley at the foot of Black Hill. Cleft in two by a deep gully, the fort itself stands on the SW end of the NE portion of the ridge, including its summit knoll into the defences, and another settlement enclosure occupies its NE tip (Canmore 48746). The fort has been heavily disturbed by stone-robbing, but the defences evidently represent several periods of construction, and the sequence is probably more complex than the two structural periods identified in 1975 by RCAHMS investigators, in which a fort enclosing the whole of this end of the crest of the ridge was superseded by a smaller bivallate enclosure (RCAHMS 1978, 98-100, no.226); indeed it is likely that the supposedly bivallate defences of the innermost enclosure themselves represent at least two periods of construction, contracting in the later into an oval enclosure largely in the lea of the summit knoll and measuring no more than 43m from N to S by 27m transversely (0.09ha) within a stony bank. This bank does not take a particularly sensible line for a defensive work, whereas the roughly concentric rampart that surrounds it adopts the inner rampart of the earliest circuit for the greater part of its course, only diverging where it cuts back across the interior on the SW; here it is not only accompanied by an external ditch, but also an internal quarry ditch riding up onto the summit knoll behind the rampart. Possibly once an enclosure in its own right, this rampart takes in an area measuring 62m from NE to SW by 47m transversely (0.2ha). What is thought to be the earliest enclosure is larger again, measuring 85m from NE to SW by 46m transversely (0.34ha) within two ramparts, the inner of which on the SW stands 2.4m above the bottom of a medial ditch up to 5m broad. The two ramparts, however, are not entirely concentric and on the NE the outer apparently diverges to enclose an additional area of ground, extending along the crest of the natural slope on the SE for a further 25m, before cutting sharply back with an external ditch towards the NW. Here, just short of the lip of the slope, it returns at right angles to form the SE side of an entrance way leading to a gap in the inner rampart at the N extremity of the interior; a second entrance lies in a similar position at the SW end of the interior, though here the inner of the two ramparts turns inwards to flank the entrance way, thus exposing the visitor’s right side. While this additional enclosure on the NE is possibly an annexe, and contains evidence of a large timber round-house with an internal ring-ditch, it is also possible that this originated as part of an even earlier enclosure on this hilltop. In addition to this round-house, at least three others can be seen within the interior of the innermost enclosure.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 19 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3233