Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG1693 (None)
NMR: ND 37 NW 1 & 2 (9369)
SM: 2689
NGR: ND 3105 7515
X: 331050 Y: 975150 (OSGB36)
The large headland known as St John's Point is defended by a substantial rampart and ditch barring access from the S. The rampart is massive in Scottish terms, forming a bank some 12m in thickness at the base by 3m in height and is probably fronted by an equally broad ditch, though of the latter all that can be seen is a shallow hollow about 10m in breadth with a later turf field-bank extending along its counterscarp. The interior measures about 210m from N to S by up to 140m transversely (2.25ha), and is indented by deep geos along its seaward end to form three smaller promontories. Turf field-banks extend around the margin of the headland and much of its surface has been cultivated in rigs, but aerial photographs reveal traces of a ploughed-down arc of bank enclosing an area about 30m across in the angle between the cliffs on the E and the rampart on the S. This enclosure is the 'Grave Yard' annotated on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet 2.11), which places a cross marking the site of St John's Chapel at its centre. This attribution has been transposed to the remains of a building visible beneath the E end of a stone field-dyke that surmounts the rampart. In 1910 Alexander Curle noted that this was locally said to be a chapel, but he also observed that it was not correctly oriented and doubted the attribution (RCAHMS 1911, 20-1, no.56). Nevertheless, in 1919 John Nicolson uncovered the W gable end to reveal a central entrance and what he described as a slab-lined grave, with its head to the W and a reused cross-slab in one side (Nicolson 1922); the stratigraphic relationship between the chapel and the rampart was not recorded. Apart from a second compartment at the E end of this building, the only other feature visible within the interior of the fort are the remains of a rectangular building platform on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the N side of the small bay that cuts into the headland from the E (ND 31117 75151).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -355121 Y: 8106999 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.190104098297375 Latitude: 58.65878250022297 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Caithness
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Canisbay
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: 15.0m
N/A
In the absence of modern 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: | Chapel and burial-ground possible; Cultivated in the post-medieval period and the site of at least one other rectangular building |
None
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1873): | Annotated 'Fosse' on 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet 2.11) |
| Other (1910): | Description (RCAHMS 1911, 17, no.40; 20-1, no.56) |
| Excavation (1919): | John Nicolson uncovers part of the supposed chapel (1922) |
| Other (1965): | Visited by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1967): | Description and sketch-plan of the chapel and burial-ground (Macdonald and Laing 1968, 124-5, fig3) |
| Other (1968): | Scheduled |
| Other (1971): | Description and photographs by Raymond Lamb (1980, 74) |
| Other (1972): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Other (1982): | Caithness Coastal Survey (Batey 1982; archive held in RCAHMS) |
| Other (1982): | Visited by the OS |
Two rectangular buildings, one of which is possibly a chapel associated with a burial-ground
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
probably post-medieval buildings
| 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
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South): | None |
Single rampart and ditch
| Area 1: | 2.25ha. |
| Total: | 2.25ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Batey, C E (1982) Caithness coastal survey 1982: interim reports 1980-2, typescript Durham University.
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 180)
Lamb, R G (1980) Iron Age promontory forts in the Northern Isles. Brit Archaeol Rep, British Ser 79. BAR: Oxford
Macdonald and Laing, A D S and L R (1968) 'Early ecclesiastical sites in Scotland: a field survey, part 1'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 100 (1967-8), 123-34
Nicolson, J (1922) 'A cross-slab found at St John's Chapel, Canisbay, Caithness'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 56 (1921-2), 66-7
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