Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG44137 (None)
NMR: NC 80 SE 3 (6535)
SM: 1854
NGR: NC 8506 0481
X: 285061 Y: 904813 (OSGB36)
Duchary Rock, a rocky spur high up on the SW flank of Strath Brora, provides a spectacular setting for one of the larger forts in northern Scotland, with a cliff along the E margin and low crags dropping into steep rocky slopes elsewhere on the SW and to a lesser extent the SE end. The principal defence is a single wall barring access from the NW, where it measures 3.6m in thickness and still stands almost 1m in height, though the spread of tumbled rubble is up to 12m broad; an outer wall noted in by Alexander Curle in 1909 is probably part of this tumble (RCAHMS 1911, 11-12, no.29). A second wall cuts across the SE end of the spur to create a pear-shaped enclosure measuring 290m in length and contracting from a maximum of 110m in breadth on the NW to no more than 50m on the SE (2.3ha). The main entrance is on the NW and measures 1.8m in width and is lined with upright slabs. A second entrance on the SE is narrower, measuring about 1.2m wide, and lined with laid masonry; two upright slabs were noted in 1990 by Joanna Close-Brooks roughly halfway along the passage, and she identified a possible bar-hole slot in the NE face adjacent to one of them. Both these entrances are currently blocked with tumbled stones, but in the NW end A H A Hogg also noted up to four through joints in the thickness of the wall, two lying on the W of the entrance and another two on the E (1975, 194-5); those on the W also incorporate upright slabs, and give the impression that they are the sides of an entrance passage, which has been blocked with neatly laid masonry, and Hogg speculated that the others may be further entrances, which would amount to no fewer than four in this end. The peat-covered interior is featureless.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -439409 Y: 7971028 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.947279678237194 Latitude: 58.01765751107481 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Sutherland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Clyne
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: 235.0m
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 collection also contains numerous photographs; Highland HER hold photographs
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1909): | Description (RCAHMS 1911, 11-12, no.29) |
| Other (1935): | Scheduled |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1961): | Visited by the oS |
| Other (1975): | Visited by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1975): | Sketch-plan and description (Hogg 1975, 194-5, fig 60) |
| Other (1990): | Description by Joanna Close-Brooks (1995, 141) |
| Other (1997): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
Featureless
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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 3: | None |
| 2: | There are also two additional through joints in the wall at the NW end, possibly indicating a total of four entrances here. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Blocked (North west): | None |
| 2. Simple Gap (North west): | None |
| 3. Simple Gap (South east): | None |
| 4. Other Forms (North west): | Single through joint in the thickness of the wall |
| 5. Other Forms (North west): | Butt end to thick wall possibly indicating 4th entrance in this end |
Single wall blocking access at two ends of a spur
| Area 1: | 2.3ha. |
| Total: | 2.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | Blocked entrance at the NW end |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 |
Close-Brooks, J (1995) The Highlands, Exploring Scotland's Heritage series (ed A Ritchie). HMSO: Edinburgh Page(s): (no. 81), 141 Held at RCAHMS A.1.4.HER
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 158)
Hogg, A H A (1975) Hill-forts of Britain. London
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