Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG7730 (None)
NMR: NG 87 NW 6 (11959)
SM: 6234
NGR: NG 8027 7534
X: 180270 Y: 875340 (OSGB36)
The defences of the small fortification on a rocky promontory extending N from the headland at the southern end of the bay at Gairloch comprises two elements: a small oval enclosure on the summit of the promontory; and a dug-out gully cutting off the landward approach from the SE. The inner enclosure measures about 17m from N to S by 15m transversely within the grass-grown remains of a wall about 0.6m high, within which vitrifaction has been observed on the N and adjacent to the entrance on the SE. The entrance opens onto a causeway across the gully, the bottom of which has been dug out to form a ditch some 3m wide by up to 2m deep. It is unclear whether the ditch is merely an outwork to the inner enclosure, or whether it is part of an earlier promontory work. Girt with cliffs along its sides and separated from the outer end of the promontory by a deep natural fissure, it is well-suited to defence and an area of about 0.09ha is cut off behind the ditch. Keith Blood of the OS also identified traces of a bank along the cliff-edge on the landward side of the ditch, possibly indicating an outer defence or an outer enclosure as was depicted by William Thomson in 1924 (1924, 135-9, fig 4); Thomson also believed that the outer end of the promontory beyond the natural fissure was enclosed with walls and marks several places where he identified vitrified stones. This part of the promontory extends to about 0.3ha, much of it apparently bare outcrop.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -633486 Y: 7907483 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -5.690705631922271 Latitude: 57.71403012023052 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Ross-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Gairloch
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: 10.0m
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: | Possibly a dun overlying an earlier promontory work |
Also photographed by RCAHMS in 2011
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1875): | Annotated 'Dun (Supposed Pictish Fort' on the 1st edition of the OS 25-inch map (Ross-shire 1881, sheet 56.4) |
| Other (1886): | Mentioned as a vitrified fort (Dixon 1886, 21, 24, 98) |
| Other (1924): | Sketch-plan and description by William Thomson (1924, 135-9, fig 4) |
| Other (1947): | A Mr C Gordon sends pieces of vitrified stone to RCAHMS (Graham 1947) |
| Other (1949): | Description and photographs (Graham 1949, 23-4) |
| Other (1965): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1995): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1996): | Sketch-plan and notes in Highland HER |
Featureless unless the dun overlies the promontory work
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 | ✗ |
The dun on the summit
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
See main summary
| 1: | Incomplete and heavily degraded |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Other Forms (South east): | Causeway across the ditch |
Ditch cuts off a promontory, but there is also a possible outer enclosure bounded by a bank extending along the cliff-edge.
| Area 1: | 0.09ha. |
| Total: | 0.09ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.1ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | This does not include the dun wall |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Dun wall contains vitrifaction. Thomson claims traces of vitrifaction on the outer end of the promontory, but this remains unconfirmed
| 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 |
| ✓ | Cutting off promontory |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Dixon, J H (1886) Gairloch in north west Ross-shire: its records, traditions inhabitants and natural history with a guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree. Edinburgh
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford, London (p 149)
Graham, A (1947) 'New vitrified forts'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot.81 (1946-7), 182
Graham, A (1951) 'Notes on some brochs and forts visited in 1949'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 83 (1948-9), 12-24
Thomson, W (1924) 'An Account of several Antiquities in Gairloch Parish, Ross-shire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 58 (1923-4), 131-9
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