HER:  Stirling 63728 (None)
NMR:  NN 53 SE 26 (24204)
SM:  None
NGR:  NN 5731 3263
X:  257317  Y:  732632  (OSGB36)
A small fortification occupies the NE tip of a small island immediately below the Falls of Dochart, where the River Dochart flows past in channels deeply incised into the rock to either side; the only access is along the island from the SW, currently from the road bridge, from which a trackway leads to the walled burial-ground of the MacNabs, cutting through the remains of a small fort on the summit of the island to the SW (Atlas No. 2608). The fortification on the tip of the island is a promontory work, formed by the construction of a rampart with an external ditch to block access from along the spine of the island to the SW. The rampart measures about 4.5m in thickness by 0.6m in height, and its accompanying external ditch some 6m in breadth by 0.9m in depth. The latter is apparently unbroken by any entrance causeway, but there is a central gap in the rampart where the trackway passes through to the walled burial-ground. The tapering interior measures about 40m in length and tapers from about 20m in breadth immediately to the rear of the rampart on the SW to a point on the NE (0.04ha); apart from the burial ground, it is featureless. An old drystone dyke also traverses the island in the bottom of the ditch.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed
X:  -480612  Y:  7651389  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -4.3174117593883325  Latitude:  56.46421648216247  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Stirling
Historic County:  Perthshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Killin
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:  115.0m
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:   | Insertion of a walled burial ground and the construction of a drystone dyke |
Although the Scheduling document for Atlas No. 2608 expresses the intent to Schedule both forts on this small island, the accompanying map excludes this work, apparently placing the boundary of the protected area on the line of the defences.
1st Identified Written Reference (1911):   | Description (Cash 1912, 265-6) |
Earthwork Survey (1958):   | Plan and description for RCAHMS Marginal Lands Survey (RCAHMS DC5406 & DP157791) |
Other (1975):   | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1978):   | Description by RCAHMS |
Partly occupied by the walled burial-ground, but otherwise 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   | ✗ |
Obscured by trees
APs Not Checked   | ✗ |
None   | ✓ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Postholes   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
See main summary
1:   | None |
2:   | Unclear whether the central gap is an original entrance |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
Single rampart and ditch cutting off a promontory
Area 1:   | 0.04ha. |
Total:   | 0.04ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✗   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SW Quadrant:   | 1 |
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:  1
✗   | None |
Cash, C G (1912) 'Archaeological gleanings from Killin'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 46 (1911-12), 264-85
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