Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 5002 (None)
NMR: NS 06 SE 9 (40424)
SM: 2430
NGR: NS 0696 6308
X: 206964 Y: 663081 (OSGB36)
This fort, which is situated on the rocky crest of Barone Hill, displays two divergent lines of enclosure, almost certainly representing separate phases of construction. The smaller enclosure is oval on plan and takes in the summit. measuring about 62m from NE to SW by 42m transversely (0.2ha) within a wall some 3m thick and up to 1m in height; this wall is best preserved on the W and S, where numerous facing-stones are visible, but elsewhere there is little more than a rickle of stones around the edge of the summit. The entrance is on the SW and the interior is featureless. The larger enclosure also once took in the summit, but extends down the crest of the hill towards the SSW to form a pear-shaped enclosure measuring some 130m in length by about 75m in maximum breadth (0.7ha) within a wall about 3m in thickness and 0.5m in height. Occasional facing-stones can be seen along its length and an entrance in the western side was noted in 1943. The relationship between the two perimeters is unknown, though on the NW the outer turns sharply back to meet the line of the inner at right-angles.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -565846 Y: 7523125 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -5.083083208229977 Latitude: 55.82231514302958 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Argyll & Bute
Historic County: Buteshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: North Bute
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✓ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| Contour Fort | ✓ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✓ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 160.0m
N/A
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Overriddedn by a stone march dyke, and the OS traingulation station stands within the interior. |
First depicted in 1863 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1869, sheet 204.10), it was described by the Rev J K Hewison about 1893 (Hewison 1893, 286-7), who claimed to see traces of vitrifaction, though no visitors since have found any evidence to support his assertion. It was visited in 1943 during the RCAHMS Emergency Surveys and subsequently by the OS in 1976. It was Scheduled in 1964. Aerial photographs were taken by RCAHMS in 1993 and 2008, and it was visited by RCAHMS in 2009.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1863): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1869, sheet 204.10) |
| Other (1893): | Description by J K Hewison (1893, 286-7) |
| Other (1943): | Description RCAHMS Emergency Surveys |
| Other (1964): | Scheduled |
| Other (1976): | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
| Other (2009): | Visited by RCAHMS |
Rocky and featureless
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | Large sectors on the E and N of the summit enclosure are virtually invisible |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | In inner enclosure |
| 2. Simple Gap (West): | In outer enclosure |
Two walls, probably representing separate periods of enclosure
| Area 1: | 0.2ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.7ha. |
| Total: | 0.7ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.7ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✓ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Antiquarian claim of vitrifaction not substantiated by later investigators
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | While the outer enclosure might be construed as an annexe, it is likely to be a free-standing fort of 0.7ha |
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland, London (p 113)
Hewison, Rev. J K (1892-93) 'On the Prehistoric forts of the Island of Bute'. PSAS 27 (1893-3), 281-93
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1