SC2888: Knock Farril | (Knockfarrel) |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER: Highland HER MHG7152
NMR: NH 55 NW 10 (12782)
SM: 1672
NGR: NH 5048 5852
X: 250483 Y: 858520 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
This fort occupies the summit of the ENE end of a long ridge overlooking Strathpeffer from the SE. Lozenge-shaped on plan, it measures about 118m from NE to SW by 30m transversely (0.33ha) within a heavily vitrified wall with massive exposures of vitrifaction all around its circuit. At either end wing walls extend along the crest of the ridge for a distance of at least 50m, in effect doubling the length of the fort in terms of its visual impact from the valley below. No entrance is visible but two wells are visible within the SW end of the interior, and there are traces of a rectangular building adjacent to one of them. Though it is not shown on the most recent survey (Headland 2013, fig 3b), Alan Ayre of the OS also identified traces of what he thought might be an earlier rampart or wall extending along a break of slope on the E flank of the fort and hooking round beneath the end of the wing wall at the SW end; in one place he identified its outer face over a distance of some 27m. In contrast to the inner wall, there was no trace of vitrifaction in this line of defence, and nor is there in a short segment of rampart set astride the spine of the ridge outside it at the SW end. In addition to the remains of the fort itself, evidence of at least two excavation trenches dug by John Williams about 1777 can be seen, one cut across the fort from side to side a little NE of its centre, and the other driven into the SW wing wall from the SE. A third similar feature cuts across the NE wing wall, but if this is an excavation rather than a more ancient boundary work of some kind spanning a relatively narrow part of the ridge top, it seems to date from before Williams' time (1777, 30). Williams measured the heights of the walls in his trenches, which were cut down to bedrock, observing that even in its ruined state the wall on the N side was some 3.5m in height, while the wing wall on the SW was 7m in height. He also dug into both wells, which filled up with water overnight.
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Confirmed |
X: -501279 Y: 7882083 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -4.503069 Latitude: 57.591949 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Ross-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Fodderty
| Extant: | ✓ |
| Cropmark: | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed: | ✗ |
| Woodland: | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation: | ✗ |
| Parkland: | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing): | ✓ |
| Arable: | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken: | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland: | ✓ |
| Heath: | ✗ |
| Built-up: | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| 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: ✗
| North: | ✗ |
| Northeast: | ✗ |
| East: | ✗ |
| Southeast: | ✗ |
| South: | ✗ |
| Southwest: | ✗ |
| West: | ✗ |
| Northwest: | ✓ |
| Level: | ✗ |
Altitude: 218.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
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: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✗ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✓ | Rectangular building and antiquarian excavation. |
| None: | No details. |
Highland HER holds an extensive photographic archive for the fort, including photographs from the coring of the rampart for thermoluminescence dates by David Sanderson,
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1777): | Description by John Williams (1777) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1873): | Annotated Vitrified Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Ross-shire 1881, sheet 88.1) |
| Earthwork Survey (1905): | Plan and description (Fraser 1906, 288-91) |
| Earthwork Survey (1918): | Plan and description (Wallace 1918, 100-2) |
| Other (1965): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1969): | Scheduled |
| Other (1970): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1978): | Visited by RCAHMS |
| Other (1985): | Rampart cored for TL date samples (Sanderson et al 1988) |
| Other (1989): | Visited by RCAHMS |
| Other (1997): | Re-Scheduled |
| Other (1997): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
| Earthwork Survey (2011): | Plan and description by Headland Archaeology (2011) |
Featureless apart from hollows marking the positions of two wells, an the footings of a rectangular building
Two wells
| None: | ✗ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Features: | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✓ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Geophysics: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| 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
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 0 |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: | 0: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
Single wall vitrified wall around summit, with wing walls at either end, and possibly traces of a large earlier enclosure beneath it.
| Enclosed Area 1: | 0.33ha. |
| Enclosed Area 2: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 3: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 4: | ✗ |
| Total Enclosed Area: | 0.3ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.0ha.
| Multi-period Enclosure System: | ✓ | OS suggest the SW wing-wall overlies the traces of an earlier wall |
| Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit: | ✓ |
| Number of Ramparts: | 3 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate: | ✓ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✓ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✓ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✓ |
| Rubble: | ✗ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✓ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| 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: | ✗ |
Ditches: ✗
| Number of Ditches: |
| Annex: | ✗ |
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 148-9)
Fraser, J (1906) 'Vitrified fort of Knockfarrel'. Trans Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club 6 (1899-1906), 288-91
Headland Archaeology (2011) Knock Farril, Fodderty and Ord Hill, Knockbain: topographic survey for the Forestry Commission. Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd
Sanderson, D, PLacido, F & Tate, J O (1988) 'Scottish vitrified forts: TL results from six study sites.' Int J Radiat Appl Instrum, Part D, Nucl Tracks Radiat Meas 14 (1988), 307-16
Wallace, T (1918) 'Notes on the parish of Petty'. Trans Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club 8 (1912-18), 87-136
Wessel, J (2011) 'Knock Farril and Ord Hill, Highland (Fodderty and Knockbain parishes), survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 104-105
Williams, J (1777) An account of some remarkable ancient ruins, lately discovered in the highlands and northern parts of Scotland: in a series of letters to G.C.M. Esq., Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C2888
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31101905
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.