Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2804 Dun Viden, Sutherland

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Highland HER MHG11106 (None)

NMR:  NC 75 SW 11 (6299)

SM:  1860

NGR:  NC 7265 5188

X:  272650  Y:  951880  (OSGB36)

Summary

The remains of this broch, which has been reduced to little more than a mound of rubble, stand in the centre of an outer enclosure occupying the summit of a hillock overlooking the haughland on the E side of the River Naver. The outer enclosure measures about 37m from N to S by 28m transversely (0.08ha) within a rampart that barely rises above the level of the interior but drops up to 3.5m to the bottom of an external ditch which can be traced round the broch everywhere except on the steep western flank; a counterscarp bank is also present on the E. The entrance is on the SE, forming a hollow cutting through the rim of the hillock to approach the entrance of the broch; on its NE side it is flanked by a low bank.The relationship between the broch and the surrounding defences is unknown.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed

Location

X:  -465649  Y:  8059621  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.182999116163185  Latitude:  58.43670773293372  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:  Sutherland

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Farr

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant   ✓
Cropmark   ✗
Likely Destroyed   ✗

Land Use

None

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort   ✓
Partial Contour Fort   ✗
Promontory Fort   ✗
Hillslope Fort   ✗
Level Terrain Fort   ✗
Marsh Fort   ✗
Multiple Enclosure Fort   ✗

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North   ✗
Northeast   ✗
East   ✗
Southeast   ✗
South   ✗
Southwest   ✗
West   ✗
Northwest   ✗
Level   ✓

Altitude:  43.0m

Boundary

N/A


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

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

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

None

Investigations:
1st Identified Written Reference (1864):   Noted by Rev J M Joass (1864, 360)
Other (1867):   Ms notes by James Horsburgh (RCAHMS DC 53087; Horsburgh 1868, 272)
1st Identified Map Depiction (1873):   Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1878, sheet 27)
Other (1909):   Description (RCAHMS 1911, 60, 181)
Other (1938):   Scheduled
Other (1960):   Visited by the OS
Other (1978):   Revised at 1:10,000 by the OS
Other (1985):   Description and sketch-plan (Swanson 1988, 727-9, cited in MacKie 2007, 635)

Interior Features

Featureless apart from the broch

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

Broch

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features   ✗
Round Stone Structures   ✗
Rectangular Stone Structures   ✗
Curvilinear Platforms   ✗
Other Roundhouse Evidence   ✗
Pits   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✓

Excavation

None

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation   ✓
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics   ✓
Pits   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Finds

An iron arrowhead (GA 1265) from outside the broch and a flint (AB 2655) are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds   ✗
Pottery   ✗
Metal   ✗
Metalworking   ✓
Human Bones   ✗
Animal Bones   ✗
Lithics   ✓
Environmental   ✗
Other   ✗

Aerial

Broch

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked   ✗
None   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Other   ✓

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
1:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (South east):   None

Enclosing Works

Rampart and external ditch, in places with counterscarp bank

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.08ha.
Total:   0.08ha.

Total Footprint Area:  0.23ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   This excludes the broch wall

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

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✓
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗
Unknown   ✗

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗

Surface Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✓
Stone Wall   ✗
Rubble   ✗
Wall-walk   ✗
Evidence of Timber   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✓
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavated Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✗
Murus Duplex   ✗
Timber-framed   ✗
Timber-laced   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
No Known Excavation   ✓
Other   ✗

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✓   None

Number of Ditches:  1

Annex:
✗   None

References

Horsburgh, J (1868) Notes of Cromlechs, Duns, Hut-Circles, Chambered Cairns, and other Remains, in the County of Sutherland. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 7 (1866-8), 271-9

MacKie, E W (2007) The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC-AD 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands, BAR British series 444(II), 444(1), 2 V. BAR: Oxford

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

Swanson, C B (1988) A contribution to the understanding of brochs, Unpublished Ph D thesis. University of Edinburgh



Terms of Use

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


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