HER:  Highland HER MHG5816 (None)
NMR:  NG 35 SW 1 (11151)
SM:  None
NGR:  NG 3368 5408
X:  133680  Y:  854080  (OSGB36)
This small fortification is situated on the summit of a rocky ridge rising some 10m or so above the surrounding moorland. Sub-rectangular on plan, it measures 28m from N to S by 18.3m transversely (0.05ha) within a wall 4m in maximum thickness and where it is best preserved on the N 1m in height. The entrance is not visible, and the only feature within the interior is a stony bank that crosses from N to S and is probably associated with the settlement of later buildings that lies around the foot of the ridge.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -717686  Y:  7862691  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -6.447081852294701  Latitude:  57.498466977000675  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland
Historic County:  Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Duirinish
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:  50.0m
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:   | Interior crossed by a stony bank |
None
1st Identified Map Depiction (1875):   | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Inverness-shire, Skye, 1881, sheet 16.6) |
Other (1915):   | Description (RCAHMS 1928, 163, no.521) |
Other (1961):   | Visited by the OS |
Other (1971):   | Description, visited by the OS |
Other (1984):   | Description and sketch-plan (MacSween 1985, 51, fig 65) |
Other (1990):   | Description by RCAHMS |
Featureless apart from later bank
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
Stony bank
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   | ✗ |
None known
0:   | None |
2:   | Not known |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
Single wall
Area 1:   | 0.05ha. |
Total:   | 0.05ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
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   | ✗ |
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 |
MacSween, A (1985) The Broch, Duns and Enclosures of Skye. Northern Archaeology 5-6 (1984-85), 1-57
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
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