Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG783 (None)
NMR: ND 05 NE 18 (7632)
SM: 530
NGR: ND 0594 5574
X: 305940 Y: 955740 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the summit of Beinn Freiceadain, the central of three summits along this ridge that dominates the moorland interior of Caithness. Oval on plan, it measures about 290m from NW to SE by 145m transversely (3.5ha) within a single wall that has probably been in the order of 2.4m in thickness, which can be traced everywhere except the NE, where a cliff-edge takes up its line. Where best preserved around the NW end the wall has been reduced to a stony scarp up to 4.5m broad and 1m high, in which the line of the outer face can be detected in places and there are a few external quarry pits at its foot. Along the steeper SW flank, however, it follows a natural terrace halfway down the slope and there is evidence of quarrying along the rock-faces to its rear. Towards the SE end the wall mounts the slope obliquely, but there are also Intermittent traces of what may be an outer defence continuing along this lower line. While there is one gap in the wall on the N, and a second in a gully midway along its SW side, the only certain entrance is on the NW, where a single massive inner facing slab has been set up on end to mark the inner angle on the E, while other slabs were set along its sides to forma passage 4.5m in length by 1.5m in width. Apart from a chambered cairn and a shepherds cairn, the interior is featureless.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -402385 Y: 8068791 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.614683003242011 Latitude: 58.47980021097886 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Caithness
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Reay
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: Commands an extensive outlook across Caithness and to Orkney
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 239.0m
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: | Neolithic chambered tomb within the interior |
| Post Hillfort: | Shepherds cairn |
RCAHMS holds ground views, while Highland HER also have aerial photographs
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1750): | Undated early 18th century estate plan depiction (SUD 87/1) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1872): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet 17.9) |
| Other (1910): | Description (RCAHMS 1911, 95, no.354) |
| Other (1933): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1955): | Plan and description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS CAD 1/1-3 & DP147566-7, DP147574; Feachem 1963, 114) |
| Other (1962): | Visited by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1981): | Sketch plan at 1:2500 by John MacRae of the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1982): | Plan and description by R J Mercer (1985, 108-9, fig 67; RCAHMS DC722-3) |
| Other (1997): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
Featureless apart from the chambered tomb
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Chambered tomb
| 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 | ✗ |
Chambered tomb
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
See main summary
| 3: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North west): | None |
Single wall
| Area 1: | 3.5ha. |
| Total: | 3.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 |
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Mercer, R J (1985) Archaeological Field Survey in Northern Scotland Volume III 1982-1983. University of Edinburgh, Department of Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. 11. Edinburgh
RCAHMS (1911) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Third report and inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Caithness. HMSO, London
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