Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG44716 (None)
NMR: NG 36 SE 1 (11195)
SM: None
NGR: NG 3740 6472
X: 137400 Y: 864720 (OSGB36)
A complex fortification is situated on a hillock overlooking the shore on the first headland north of the mouth of Uig Bay. Protected by precipitous cliffs on the S and W, and steep rocky slopes on the NW and E, the hillock is roughly triangular in plan, but it rises into a roughly oval summit which is enclosed by the innermost defences. Measuring about 40m from E to W by 33m transversely (0.12ha) within a wall about 3m in thickness, pieces of vitrifaction have been found amongst the rubble on its W flank. This inner enclosure is overlain on the E by a small dun which seems to have reused the line of the earlier wall to create an angle on the N in its otherwise circular plan; the dun measures 3.6m across the interior within an externally battered wall up to 3.6m in thickness, and its outer face still stands up to 2.5m in height; the entrance is not visible, but there is a curious recess in the inner face of the wall at the N angle, which together with an internal face observed by the OS in the thickness of the wall may indicate a certain amount of modification and re-working of the structure. The outer defences of the fort include a wall extending the length of the E flank of the hillock below the summit enclosure, and turning sharply back on itself at its N end, in effect creating a triangular annexe on the N. What appears to be a substantial rectangular building, measuring 18m in length by 4.3m in breadth within a foundation 1.5m in thickness is set against the E wall of this annexe, which is also subdivided by a cross-wall extending across the slope below the N flank of the summit enclosure. An entrance at the N apex of the annexe opens onto a sinuous path leading down the slope, while a gap at the E end of the cross provided access leading up to the summit enclosure. RCAHMS investigators in 1921 noted one hollow on the N side of the summit enclosure and at least two more in the annexe that they believed were the remains of contemporary hut-circles (RCAHMS 1928, 17-2, no.542, fig 243), but subsequent fieldwork by the OS has passed no comment. The OS however, observed traces of walling in gaps between the outcrops along the E flank, though whether this is related to the defences of the fort or part of the agricultural enclosures in the vicinity is uncertain; they also identified a possible outwork on W.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -712075 Y: 7882910 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -6.396681109711175 Latitude: 57.59593139797039 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kilmuir
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: 60.0m
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: | Overlain by a dun |
Aerial photographs were taken by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 2009, and ground views have also been contributed to RCAHMS Canmore by Anouk Busset in 2014
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1875): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Inverness-shire, Skye, 1880, sheet 6.16) |
| Earthwork Survey (1921): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1928, 17-2, no.542, fig 243; RCAHMS IND 47/1) |
| Other (1971): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1984): | Description and sketc-hplan based on the RCAHMS plan (MacSween 49, fig 52) |
Apart from the overlying dun, possible hut-circles were claimed by RCAHMS investigators in 1921
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Overlain by dun
| 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 and robbed circuit |
| 2: | In outer defences |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North): | At the N apex of the annexe |
Single wall round the summit and at least two outworks
| Area 1: | 0.12ha. |
| Total: | 0.12ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.33ha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✓ | This excludes the dun overlying the summit enclosure |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 | ✗ |
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
| ✓ | The outworks create a small triangular annexe of about 0.05ha on the N. It is not impossible that these outer works were part of a free-standing enclosure. |
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