Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Falkirk Community Trust, Falkirk Sites and Monuments Record 753 (None)
NMR: NS 88 SW 27 (47023)
SM: 6414
NGR: NS 8491 8102
X: 284910 Y: 681020 (OSGB36)
A complex series of ditched fortifications are revealed by cropmarks enclosing a low rise in the field due E of Carmuirs, representing at least four separate periods of construction, and probably more. The largest of the enclosures is roughly oval on plan, with a clearly defined entrance on the ESE, and measures about 90m from E to W by 65m transversely (0.45ha) within a ditch about 4m broad, though its line cannot be traced through the rough grass on the N (since ploughed up), nor in the diffuse cropmarkings on the S; allowing 5m for an internal rampart, its interior extends to about 0.34ha and represents the maximum area that has been enclosed here. Set concentrically about 8m within this ditch, and probably representing a separate phase of enclosure, is a slighter ditch little more than 2m broad, again probably with an entrance on the ESE, but also with a second on the SSW, and enclosing an area measuring 70m from E to W by 55m transversely (0.29ha). Cutting across the W half of the interior of the larger outer enclosure, and intersecting the line of the inner enclosure on both the NW and SW, is a double-ditched defence, the inner line of which measures about 4m in breadth and almost certainly picks up the line of the outer enclosure in the area of diffuse cropmarks on the S, to take in a roughly D-shaped area measuring about 60m from N to S along the chord by 60m transversely (0.28ha), again with its entrance on the ESE, where the slighter outer ditch is also visible. Traces of a concentric palisade trench can be seen immediately within the the inner of this pair of ditches on the SW, but in this sector there is also yet another ditch set immediately within what would have been the line of the rampart, and possibly also accompanied by an internal palisade trench, but apparently converging northwards to intersect the inner of the double ditches, and therefore representing a fourth phase of construction. Though clearly displaying a series of ditch intersections, the nature of the cropmark evidence rarely displays evidence that can be used to infer the sequence of construction; in this case, all that can be said is that the double-ditched fortification appears to represent a contraction of the larger single ditched fort. Several diffuse maculae and a faint mark forming an arc can be seen within the interior.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -428292 Y: 7560068 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.847410323636502 Latitude: 56.008301261163474 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Falkirk
Historic County: Stirlingshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Falkirk
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: 30.0m
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: | Ploughed flat |
First recorded by CUCAP in 1974, and re-photographed in 1975 and 1980, it has been photographed by the RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1991 and 2003. It was visited on the ground by the OS in 1978 and Scheduled 1996.
| Other (1974): | Discovered by CUCAP |
| Other (1978): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1996): | Scheduled |
Several diffuse maculae and a faint mark forming an arc can be seen within the interior
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 certain structures, but several diffuse maculae
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
See main summary
| 2: | Ploughed flat |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | Entrance in at least three phases |
| 2. Simple Gap (South): | In the inner enclosure |
Multiple ditches representing separate phases, the largest of which has been given as the interior here, although the double ditched fortification, probably represents a contraction to about 0.2ha
| Area 1: | 0.2ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.34haf. |
| Total: | 0.34ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✓ | Almost certainly though they are not recorded on the N and S |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Not visible on the surface; palisade trench revealed by cropmarks
| 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 |
| ✓ | Multiple single-ditched perimeters, but one with twin ditches (0.2ha) |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
No related records
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