Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2876: Dun Mor  

(Tighnaleac)

Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community

HER:  Highland HER MHG2651

NMR:  NH 44 NE 8 (12378)

SM:  4979

NGR:  NH 4574 4515

X:  245740  Y:  845150  (EPSG:27700)

Boundary:  

Summary

Dun Mor is a massively constructed dun situated on the lip of a crag that falls away precipitously on the N and NW to the Breakachy Burn, but it also stands within a larger walled enclosure backing onto the cliff-edge. The dun itself measures about 24m from NNE to SSW by 16m transversely within a massive wall between 4.5m and 5.9m in thickness, in which both faces can be traced round the circuit, in places standing up to four courses high; its entrance is on the SE. The inner of the two outer walls follows an eccentric course around the southern and eastern flanks of the dun some 10m outside its wall to enclose an area measuring about 47m from NNE to SSW by 40m transversely (1.17ha); though reduced to its foundations, it measures about 3m in thickness and is also pierced by an entrance on the SE. The outer is even more heavily dilapidated, following the shoulder of the hillock. The relationship between these outer defences and the dun are unknown.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed:  Conventionally a dun and its outworks falling well below the 0.2ha threshold, it nevertheless is included as a small fort

Location

X:  -509159  Y:  7856874  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.573856  Latitude:  57.470377  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:   Inverness-shire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Kilmorack

Condition

Extant:  
Cropmark:  
Likely Destroyed:  

Land Use

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

Contour Fort:  
Partial Contour Fort:  
Promontory Fort:  
Hillslope Fort:  
Level Terrain Fort:  
Marsh Fort:  
Multiple Enclosure Fort:  

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  

Aspect

North:  
Northeast:  
East:  
Southeast:  
South:  
Southwest:  
West:  
Northwest:  
Level:  

Elevation

Altitude:  200.0m

Boundary

Boundary Type:  

Second HER:  

Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  

Second Historic County:  

Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  

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

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

Pre Hillfort Activity:  ✗  

Post Hillfort Activity:  ✗  

None:  No details.

Investigations

Highland HER holds several photographs, including some taken in 2014, while it was photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 2007

1st Identified Map Depiction (1875):  Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Inverness-shire 1880, sheet 10.1)
Other (1886):  Description (Wallace 1886, 343)
Other (1943):  Description by Angus Graham and Gordon Childe for RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys
Other (1957):  Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 128)
Other (1970):  Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS
Other (1979):  Description by RCAHMS
Other (1981):  Visited by the OS
Other (1991):  Scheduled

Interior Features

Featureless apart from the dun

Water Source

None:  
Spring:  
Stream:  
Pool:  
Flush:  
Well:  
Other:  

Surface

The dun

No Known Features:  
Round Stone Structures:  
Rectangular Stone Structures:  
Curvilinear Platforms:  
Other Roundhouse Evidence:  
Pits:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  

Excavation

No Known Excavation:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  
Nothing Found:  

Geophysics

No Known Geophysics:  
Pits:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Quarry Hollows:  
Other:  
Nothing Found:  

Finds

No Known Finds:  
Pottery:  
Metal:  
Metalworking:  
Human Bones:  
Animal Bones:  
Lithics:  
Environmental:  
Other:  

Aerial

The dun

APs Not Checked:  
None:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Other:  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  

Number of Possible Original Entrances:   

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗  

Entrance 1 (Southeast):  Simple Gap

Enclosing Works

Dun on the summit and two outer walls lower down the slope cutting off the cliff-edge

Enclosed Area 1:  0.17ha.
Enclosed Area 2:  
Enclosed Area 3:  
Enclosed Area 4:  
Total Enclosed Area:  0.2ha.

Total Footprint Area:  

Multi-period Enclosure System:  ✗  Excludes the dun

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:  ✓  Excludes the dun

Number of Ramparts:  2

Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:  
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:  2
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:  2
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:  

Current Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  
Unknown:  

Multi-period Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:  
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  

Surface Evidence

None:  
Earthen Bank:  
Stone Wall:  
Rubble:  
Wall-walk:  
Evidence of Timber:  
Vitrification:  
Other Burning:  
Palisade:  
Counter Scarp Bank:  
Berm:  
Unfinished:  
Other:  

Excavated Evidence

None:  
Earthen Bank:  
Stone Wall:  
Murus Duplex:  
Timber-framed:  
Timber-laced:  
Vitrification:  
Other Burning:  
Palisade:  
Counter Scarp Bank:  
Berm:  
Unfinished:  
No Known Excavation:  
Other:  

Gang Working

Gang Working:  ✗ 

Ditches

Ditches:  

Number of Ditches:  

Annex

Annex:  ✗  

References

Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London

Wallace, T (1886) 'Notes on ancient remains in the Beauly Valley, Inverness-shire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 20 (1985-6), 340-55

Terms of Use

The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:

Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.

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