Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2779: Eilean Nan Caorach  

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HER:  Highland HER MHG12069

NMR:  NC 37 SE 1 (4849)

SM:  

NGR:  NC 3509 7149

X:  235090  Y:  971490  (EPSG:27700)

Boundary:  

Summary

This fort occupies a rocky promontory that rises into a broad hammerhead beyond the neck, where a single wall some 80m in length spans the outcrops on the seaward side; the wall measures about 2m in thickness over boulder faces and is up to 0.7m high. An entrance 1.9m wide lies towards the western end of the wall and is approached obliquely up the slope by a narrow track with a stone revetment along its lower side. The interior of the fort describes a shallow V on plan and, including an area beyond a deep crevice at the W end, measures 480m in total length from E to W by 110m transversely (4.6ha), tailing off into bare outcrops at its ends and along the seaward side. A target area within the MoD range, it has been devastated by bombs and shellfire, but the footings of three sub-rectangular huts survive within the interior, while a circular fourth 2.8m in internal diameter overlies the wall. Together with a fifth outside, these are probably all of more recent date.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -538757  Y:  8094441  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.839734  Latitude:  58.600056  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:   Sutherland

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Durness

Condition

Extant:  
Cropmark:  
Likely Destroyed:  

Land Use

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

Contour Fort:  
Partial Contour Fort:  
Promontory Fort:  
Hillslope Fort:  
Level Terrain Fort:  
Marsh Fort:  
Multiple Enclosure Fort:  

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  

Aspect

North:  
Northeast:  
East:  
Southeast:  
South:  
Southwest:  
West:  
Northwest:  
Level:  

Elevation

Altitude:  49.0m

Boundary

Boundary Type:  

Second HER:  

Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  

Second Historic County:  

Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  

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

Pre 1200BC:  
1200BC - 800BC:  
1200BC - 800BC:  
400BC - AD50:  
AD50 - AD400:  
AD400 - AD 800:  
Post AD800:  
Unknown:  

Pre Hillfort Activity:  ✗  

Post Hillfort Activity:  ✓  Overlain by shielings and cratered by bombs and shellfire

None:  No details.

Investigations

RCAHMS holds a wide range of photographs, including those taken by Raymond Lamb in 1971, and oblique photographs taken by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 2004.

1st Identified Written Reference (1971):  Description by Raymond Lamb (1980, 71)
1st Identified Map Depiction (1980):  Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS
Other (2000):  Visited for MoD Operation Auk; archaeological survey (Lieu 2000)
Other (2001):  Visited for MoD Operation Auk; archaeological survey (Street 2001), but seems to have failed to recognise the remains of the fort
Other (2008):  Description by RCAHMS

Interior Features

Three sub-rectangular huts and a circular one, probably belonging to a shieling-type occupation

Water Source

None:  
Spring:  
Stream:  
Pool:  
Flush:  
Well:  
Other:  

Surface

All thought to be later

No Known Features:  
Round Stone Structures:  
Rectangular Stone Structures:  
Curvilinear Platforms:  
Other Roundhouse Evidence:  
Pits:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  

Excavation

No Known Excavation:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  
Nothing Found:  

Geophysics

No Known Geophysics:  
Pits:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  
Nothing Found:  

Finds

No Known Finds:  
Pottery:  
Metal:  
Metalworking:  
Human Bones:  
Animal Bones:  
Lithics:  
Environmental:  
Other:  

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

APs Not Checked:  
None:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Other:  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  

Number of Possible Original Entrances:   

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗  

Entrance 1 (South):  Simple Gap:  Approached by revetted trackway

Enclosing Works

Enclosed Area 1:  4.6ha.
Enclosed Area 2:  
Enclosed Area 3:  
Enclosed Area 4:  
Total Enclosed Area:  4.6ha.

Total Footprint Area:  

Multi-period Enclosure System:  ✗  

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:  ✗  

Number of Ramparts:  1

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

Current Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  
Unknown:  

Multi-period Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:  
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  

Surface Evidence

None:  
Earthen Bank:  
Stone Wall:  
Rubble:  
Wall-walk:  
Evidence of Timber:  
Vitrification:  
Other Burning:  
Palisade:  
Counter Scarp Bank:  
Berm:  
Unfinished:  
Other:  

Excavated Evidence

None:  
Earthen Bank:  
Stone Wall:  
Murus Duplex:  
Timber-framed:  
Timber-laced:  
Vitrification:  
Other Burning:  
Palisade:  
Counter Scarp Bank:  
Berm:  
Unfinished:  
No Known Excavation:  
Other:  

Gang Working

Gang Working:  ✗ 

Ditches

Ditches:  

Number of Ditches:  

Annex

Annex:  ✗  

References

Lamb, R G (1980) Iron Age promontory forts in the Northern Isles. Brit Archaeol Rep, British Ser 79. BAR: Oxford

Lieu, A (2000) Cape Wrath Naval Bombing Range: Operation Auk - An Archaeological Update

Street, R (2001) Cape Wrath Expedition 2001: Operation Auk Archaeological Survey

Terms of Use

The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:

Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.

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