Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Stirling 656 (None)
NMR: NS 69 SE 12 (45379)
SM: 3099
NGR: NS 6926 9399
X: 269260 Y: 693990 (OSGB36)
Excavation of the broch at Leckie, which lies on a steep-sided promontory formed between the E bank of the Leckie Burn and one of its tributaries, revealed that shortly after its destruction, the ruins of the broch were reconstructed as a short-lived structure, with a massive wall across the neck of the promontory. While the excavator, Euan MacKie, has described this as a promontory fort (MacKie 1982), the reconstruction of the broch wall in this form, which he suggested may have been unfinished, it seems to have done little more than mask an area of occupation that can have extended to little more than the interior of the broch. As such it is tiny, even in comparison to the smallest promontory works elsewhere, and is perhaps best regarded as a manifestation of the history of a broch, rather than the construction of a promontory fort. The finds assemblage, however, is remarkable, with a wide range of high status Roman goods as well as iron tools and other domestic debris, all pointing to a relatively brief period of occupation for all phases in the 1st-2nd centuries AD
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -456918 Y: 7582490 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -4.104567445861943 Latitude: 56.12074193991519 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Stirling
Historic County: Stirlingshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Gargunnock
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: 45.0m
N/A
Rich assemblage with numerous Roman goods in addition to the four radiocarbon dates
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | Rich assemblage of finds including Roman goods |
| C14: | Four dates spanning the Roman Iron Age |
Discovered in 1970, it was excavated by Euan Mackie from 1970-75 (MacKie 1982; 1987; 2007, 1312-18). It was Scheduled in 1971. It was visited by the OS in 1975, and by RCAHMS in 1978.
| Excavation (1970): | Discovery (MacKie 1970) |
| Excavation (1971): | Mackie 1971 |
| Other (1971): | Scheduled |
| Excavation (1972): | Mackie 1972 |
| Excavation (1973): | Mackie 1973 |
| Excavation (1974): | Mackie 1974 |
| Earthwork Survey (1975): | Mackie 1975 |
| Other (1975): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1978): | Visited by RCAHMS |
Unclear what may have been associated with the promontory fort phase
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Broch
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
Elements of the broch etc
| 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 | ✗ |
Wide ranging and rich assemblage.
| 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 | ✗ |
Not known
| 0: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single thick wall overlying the broch
| Area 1: | 0.01ha. |
| Total: | 0.01ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| 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
| ✗ | None |
MacKie, E W (1970) 'Leckie, dun', Disc Exc Scot 1970, 46
MacKie, E W (1971) 'Leckie, dun', Disc Exc Scot 1971, 42-3
MacKie, E W (1972) 'Leckie, dun', Disc Exc Scot 1972, 38
MacKie, E W (1973) 'Leckie, broch and dun', Disc Exc Scot 1973, 54-5
MacKie, E W (1974) 'Gargunnock, Leckie broch and dun', Disc Exc Scot 1974, 63
MacKie, E W (1975) 'Gargunnock, Leckie broch and dun', Disc Exc Scot 1975, 54
MacKie, E W (1982) 'The Leckie broch, Stirlingshire: an interim report', Glasgow Archaeol J 9 (1982), 60-72
Mackie, E W (1987) 'Leckie Broch - The impact on the Scottish Iron Age', Glasgow Archaeol J 14 (1987), 1-18
MacKie, E W (2007) The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC-AD 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands, BAR British series 444(II), 444(1), 2 V Oxford
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