Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK1424 (None)
NMR: NN 91 SE 4 (26073)
SM: 3133
NGR: NN 9802 1153
X: 298020 Y: 711530 (OSGB36)
This fort occupies the summit of Ben Effrey, a conical summit forming the NW spur of Beld Hill. The ground falls away sharply into steep rock-strewn slopes and screes along its SW and N flanks, and the only easy line of access is across the shallow saddle to the ESE. A belt of defences about 25m deep, comprising the remains of three ramparts, the outer accompanied by an external ditch, has been drawn across this flank, turning sharply back along the N margin to enclose a wedge-shaped area measuring a maximum of 60m in length from ESE to WNW by 38m transversely (0.21ha). A well-formed and deeply hollowed entrance-way pierces the defences immediately S of the NE corner. The interior is featureless, running up onto rough outcrops at its W extremity. In 2011 a geophysical survey was carried out and an evaluation trench excavated across the defences close to the SW margin. This showed that whereas the innermost was constructed of boulders and small stones and may have incorporated timberwork, the middle rampart was composed of massive boulders in a matrix of re-deposited subsoil, while beneath the tail of the outermost, which was largely earthen, there was evidence of a foundation trench for a palisade (Poller 2011).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -406199 Y: 7615418 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.6489455898997423 Latitude: 56.28527952198248 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Perth & Kinross
Historic County: Perthshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Auchterarder
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: 359.0m
N/A
Two from rampart contexts, but there is also an early medieval date from hearth waste dumped in the upper fill of the ditch (Information courtesy of Tessa Poller)
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| C14: | Three dates |
None
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1863): | Annotated Roman Outpost in Roman type on 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Perth and Clackmannan 1866, sheet 118) |
| Earthwork Survey (1899): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1900, 71-2, fig 30) |
| Other (1956): | Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1967): | Scheduled |
| Other (1992): | Re-Scheduled |
| Geophysical Survey (2011): | Tessa Poller for Glasgow University SERF project (2011) |
| Excavation (2011): | Evaluation directed by Tessa Poller for Glasgow University SERF project (2011) |
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: | Incomplete circuit |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (East): | None |
Belt of three ramparts cutting off a promontory, the outermost accompanied by a ditch, and with a potentially earlier palisade
| Area 1: | 0.21ha. |
| Total: | 0.21ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Possible evidence of timberwork
| 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 |
| ✓ | Accompanying the outermost rampart |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Christison, D (1900) 'The forts, "camps", and other field-works of Perth, Forfar and Kincardine'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 34 (1899-1900), 43-120
Poller, T (2011) 'Ben Effrey: SERF, Perth and Kinross (Auchterarder parish), excavation and survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 144
Poller, T (2011) 'Ben Effrey and Castle Craig: The Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot Project (SERF), Perth and Kinross (Auchterarder parish), geophysical survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 143-144
HES 2106 online Survey plan https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1530120
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