Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG5350 (None)
NMR: NG 82 SW 9 (11880)
SM: None
NGR: NG 8315 2001
X: 183150 Y: 820010 (OSGB36)
This small fortification is situated on a hillock forming the summit of a spur on the N slopes of Glen More to the NE of Glenelg. Oval on plan, it measures 57m from NW to SE by 30m transversely (0.13ha) within a wall between 3m and 3.8m in thickness. Long runs of the outer face can be seen around the SE half of the circuit and adjacent to the entrance on the NW, while the inner face can be seen also at the NW entrance and at a second entrance on the SE; a sketch-plan drawn up by Lockhart Bogle about 1895 appears to show an intermediate wall-face within the thickness of the wall to the NE of the SE entrance, but the purpose of a wall-face within the body of the wall on the WSW but at right-angles to its line is unclear. The footings of a rectangular building of comparatively recent date lie at the NW end of the interior, and at the SE end at least one circular enclosure some 12m in diameter; the latter was ruinous and grass-grown by about 1895 (Bogle 1895,185), and appeared sufficiently ancient in 1872 that Sir Henry Dryden included it on his plan (RCAHMS IND 241/1).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -622654 Y: 7805096 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -5.5933923472242935 Latitude: 57.219405019952504 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Glenelg
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: 105.0m
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: | Cottage inserted into interior |
Also PHotographed from the air by RCAHMS in 2011, and a ground view by Highland HER
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1872): | Named in Gothic type and annotated 'Remains of Pictish fort' on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1876, sheet 47) |
| Earthwork Survey (1872): | Plan and section by Sir Henry Dryden (RCAHMS IND 241/1-2) |
| Earthwork Survey (1894): | Sketch-plan and description by Lockhart Bogle (1895, 184-5, fig 6) |
| Other (1974): | Resurveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
Occupied by a rectangular building and at least one circular enclosure; the os noted another arc of bank between them, but could not find the small huts claimed by Bogle.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Rectangular structure is certainly later in date
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 2: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | None |
| 2. Simple Gap (North west): | But angled towards the W |
Single thick wall
| Area 1: | 0.13ha. |
| Total: | 0.13ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.23ha.
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 |
Bogle, L (1895) 'Notes on some prehistoric structures in Glenelg and Kintail'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 29 (1894-5), 180-90
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 127)
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