Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2700 Skye, Dun Mor, Struanmore, Inverness-shire (Struan)

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Highland HER MHG6662 (None)

NMR:  NG 33 NW 4 (11063)

SM:  918

NGR:  NG 3399 3905

X:  133990  Y:  839050  (OSGB36)

Summary

This small fort is situated on a rocky hillock girt with crags some 15m high on all sides except the NE. Here the remains of two walls can be seen, the inner of which has been carried round the whole circuit. Relatively massive on the NE, where it forms a band of debris up to 8m thick and rises about 1.2m above the level of the interior, the inner wall reduces to a thickness of perhaps no more than 2.4m elsewhere around the circuit, enclosing a roughly oval area measuring 53m from NNW to SSE by 42m transversely (0.18ha). There are entrances on the NNE and SE respectively, the passage of the former measuring 1.9m in width by 4m in length; the latter is rather narrower, but is accessed by a path climbing obliquely up the slope. While the SE entrance passes directly to the exterior, the NNE entrance presumably led out through the outwork, though no trace of an outer entrance was identified when the fort was surveyed in 1921. Extending along a terrace some 3m or 4m below the main wall, the outer wall on this side measures up to 2.4m in thickness and at its SE end turns W as if it had originally sprung from the inner. A large hut-circle some 10m in internal diameter lies on the E side of the interior, now forming a boggy hollow enclosed by a low wall. Other structures may have been inserted into the debris of the outer wall on the E.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -715296  Y:  7834893  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -6.425616823278004  Latitude:  57.36404196083813  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:  Inverness-shire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Bracadale

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant   ✓
Cropmark   ✗
Likely Destroyed   ✗

Land Use

None

Current Use:
Woodland   ✗
Commercial Forestry Plantation   ✗
Parkland   ✗
Pasture (Grazing)   ✓
Arable   ✗
Scrub/Bracken   ✗
Bare Outcrop   ✗
Heather/Moorland   ✓
Heath   ✗
Built-up   ✗
Coastal Grassland   ✗
Other   ✗

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort   ✓
Partial Contour Fort   ✗
Promontory Fort   ✗
Hillslope Fort   ✗
Level Terrain Fort   ✗
Marsh Fort   ✗
Multiple Enclosure Fort   ✗

Topographic Position

Position:
Hilltop   ✓
Coastal Promontory   ✗
Inland Promontory   ✗
Valley Bottom   ✗
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop   ✗
Ridge   ✗
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp   ✗
Hillslope   ✗
Lowland   ✗
Spur   ✓

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North   ✗
Northeast   ✗
East   ✗
Southeast   ✗
South   ✗
Southwest   ✗
West   ✗
Northwest   ✗
Level   ✓

Altitude:  125.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.

Reliability:  D - None

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC   ✗
1200BC - 800BC   ✗
800BC - 400BC   ✗
400BC - AD50   ✗
AD50 - AD400   ✗
AD400 - AD 800   ✗
Post AD800   ✗
Unknown   ✓

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   Possible later structures inserted into the debris of the outer wall on the E

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

None

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1877):   Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Inverness-shire, Skye, 1881, sheet 28.15)
Earthwork Survey (1921):   Plan and description (RCAHMS 1928, 146-7, no.489, fig 208; RCAHMS IND41/1-2)
Other (1961):   Visited by the OS
Other (1963):   Scheduled
Other (1971):   Visited by the OS
Other (1971):   Second visit by the OS

Interior Features

Single hut-cirdle about 10m in internal diameter

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

None

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features   ✗
Round Stone Structures   ✓
Rectangular Stone Structures   ✗
Curvilinear Platforms   ✗
Other Roundhouse Evidence   ✗
Pits   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavation

None

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation   ✓
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics   ✓
Pits   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Finds

None

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds   ✓
Pottery   ✗
Metal   ✗
Metalworking   ✗
Human Bones   ✗
Animal Bones   ✗
Lithics   ✗
Environmental   ✗
Other   ✗

Aerial

None

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked   ✗
None   ✗
Roundhouses   ✓
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Other   ✗

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
2:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (North):   None
2. Simple Gap (South east):   None

Enclosing Works

One wall forming a complete circuit, with an outwork on one side

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.18ha.
Total:   0.18ha.

Total Footprint Area:  0.33ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   2
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   2

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✓
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✓
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗
Unknown   ✗

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗

Surface Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✓
Rubble   ✗
Wall-walk   ✗
Evidence of Timber   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavated Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✗
Murus Duplex   ✗
Timber-framed   ✗
Timber-laced   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
No Known Excavation   ✓
Other   ✗

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✗   None

Number of Ditches:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

RCAHMS (1928) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Ninth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. HMSO: Edinburgh



Terms of Use

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


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