HER:  Highland HER MHG44718 (None)
NMR:  NC 70 SW 17 (5971)
SM:  1861
NGR:  NC 7421 0145
X:  274210  Y:  901450  (OSGB36)
This small fortification occupies the summit of a conical hillock overlooking Strath Fleet above Kinnauld. Roughly oval on plan, it measures about 37m from NE to SW by 29m transversely (0.08ha) within a wall reduced to a stony bank between 2.3m and 4m in thickness. Within the interior, offset a little to the SW from the centre, there is a circular structure, measuring 9.5m in diameter within a stony bank from 3.5m to 4.5m in thickness, though whether this is the robbed stump of a broch or dun is uncertain. Additional protection to the fort has been provided on the N and NW, where the ground has been dug away at the foot of the outcrops forming the flanks of the hillock to create ditches with external banks, the lower one on the NW with an upcast counterscarp rampart 2m high. Another outer bank has been identified on the E, though aerial photographs give the impression of a quarry on the slope immediately below it, with an approach track leading up from the SE. Be that as it may, there has possibly been another line of defence following the crest of the steeper slopes on the E and S, and returning along the NW crest of the hillock on the SW, where a stony bank drops down the slope from the enclosure on the summit; this possible outer enclosure on the S and E takes in an area measuring about 85m from NE to SW by 55m transversely, representing an additional 0.3ha and has an entrance gap on the SW. There is no clear entrance into the enclosure on the summit.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -459641  Y:  7964069  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -4.129026884012436  Latitude:  57.98453061709306  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland
Historic County:  Sutherland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Rogart
A quarry was dug into the E flank of the hillock in 1987
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:  75.0m
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:   | None |
RCAHMS and Highland HER both hold a selection of photographs.
1st Identified Map Depiction (1873):   | Annotated 'Pictish Tower' on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Sutherland 1879, sheet 104.7) |
Other (1909):   | Description (RCAHMS 1911, 165-6, no.479) |
Other (1966):   | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1981):   | Description and revised at 1:10,000 by the OS |
Other (1993):   | Scheduled |
Other (1995):   | Description |
Only the central circular structure
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
Central stone structure, possibly a broch
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   | ✗ |
Central stone structure
APs Not Checked   | ✗ |
None   | ✗ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Postholes   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Other   | ✓ |
See main summary
1:   | None |
2:   | No clearly defined entrances in the inner defences |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
1. Simple Gap (South west):   | through outer bank |
Single wall on the summit, with various outer works on the slopes
Area 1:   | 0.04ha. |
Total:   | 0.04ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.7ha.
None
✗   | None |
✓   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
SE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SW Quadrant:   | 2 |
NW Quadrant:   | 2 |
Total:   | 2 |
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:  1
✓   | The bank that drops down on the SW and possibly extends round the crest of the outcrops on the S and E, is possibly an annexe enclosing about 0.3ha. |
RCAHMS (1911) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Second report and inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Sutherland. 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