Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG45241 (None)
NMR: NH 52 NW 3 (12547)
SM: 90309
NGR: NH 5301 2855
X: 253019 Y: 828555 (OSGB36)
Castle Urquhart, which since at least the 13th century has been a major stone castle enclosing a series of low eminences at the tip of Strone Point, occupies the site of an earlier fortification. The principle evidence for this structure comes from the rocky boss that is the highest of these eminences that was probably the core of the earliest castle and forms the SW bulwark of the medieval complex. Here pieces of vitrifaction were recovered along its eastern flank during clearance work to display the castle in the 1920s (Simpson 1929, 3), and in subsequent excavations Leslie Alcock uncovered stratified cobble and paved floors and hearths beneath a layer of burning dating from the early medieval period (1992, 242-56), though the stones that he postulated as the basal course of the rear revetment of a defensive wall are unconvincing in that role. Thus, while we can be confident that this was the site of a fortification, no stratified remains of the defences have been recorded and its plan is unknown, though the summit of the boss measures a maximum of 40m from NNE to SSW by 15m transversely and the enclosed area cannot have extended much beyond 0.05ha. In accordance with his concept of ealy medieval fortifications, however, Alcock suggested that this was the citadel of a larger enclosure that probably took in much the same area as the later medieval castle (1992, 257), identifying a line of stones extending along the inner lip of the castle ditch to the NE of the gatehouse as possibly the back of a collapsed drystone wall; this remains untested by excavation, but implies an enclosed area measuring up to 140m from NE to SW by 50m transversely (0.5ha).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -494557 Y: 7826603 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -4.442676923652306 Latitude: 57.32386012293123 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Urquhart And Glenmoriston
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: 27.0m
N/A
Leslie Alcock (1992) argued the case for a date in the 2nd half of the 6th century for a fortification on the strength of oblique references in the Adomnan's Life of Columba. His subsequent excavations and analysis, supported by eight radiocarbon dates, identified stratified early medieval deposits within what was probably the interior. Part of the terminal of a Pictish silver penannular brooch dating from the late 8th century is also claimed to have been found at Urquhart Castle.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | two Early Bronze Age axes are referenced to Urquhart Castle (See RCAHMS Canmore 12551) |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | None |
| C14: | Eight dates from stratified deposits extending into the High Middle Ages |
| Other: | Documentary |
The castle itself has attracted more extensive evaluation and excavation than has been documented here, which identifies only those engagements with the earlier fortification. Both RCAHMS and Highland HER also contain extensive photographic collections covering the castle.
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1906): | Colonel M'Hardy first notes vitrifaction on the shore (1906, 149) |
| Excavation (1929): | Clearance work on the castle uncovers loose vitrified stones on the southern boss (Simpson 1929, 3) |
| Other (1956): | Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Excavation (1983): | Directed by Leslie Alcock (1992, 242-67 ) |
| Other (1997): | Scheduled, having been in Guardianship since at least the 1920s |
Occupied by the castle
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 | ✗ |
Floors and hearths
| 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 | ✗ |
None known
| 0: | None |
| 2: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
At least one timber-laced wall
| Area 1: | 0.05ha. |
| Total: | 0.05ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.5ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | Extent unknown |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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: None
| ✓ | Alcock postulates outlying enclosures taking in lower terraces and extending to perhaps 0.5ha, but this remains unproven and the possible drystone wall he identifies might in any case belong to a free-standing enclosure |
Alcock and Alcock, L and E A (1992) 'Reconnaissance excavations on Early Historic fortifications and other royal sites in Scotland, 1974-84; A, Excavations and other fieldwork at Forteviot, Perthshire, 1981; B, Excavations at Urquhart Castle, Inverness-shire, 1983; C, Excavations at Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, 1984'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 122 (1992), 215-87
M'Hardy, A B (1906) 'On vitrified forts, with results of experiments . . . '. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 40 (1905-6), 136-50
Simpson, W D (1929) Urquhart Castle. Privately printed
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