Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2899 Cnoc An Duin, Ross-shire

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Highland HER MHG8188 (None)

NMR:  NH 67 NE 1 (13710)

SM:  None

NGR:  NH 6968 7687

X:  269680  Y:  876870  (OSGB36)

Summary

This fort displays some of the clearest evidence of its unfinished character to be found anywhere in Scotland. Occupying the crest of a steep-sided ridge towering above the river on the N side of Strath Rory, its unfinished defences comprise two elements: firstly a wall that was evidently intended to enclose the summit area of the ridge extending westwards from a precipitous cleft across its axis; and secondly a more ragged outer line contouring between 15m and 20m outside it. The inner wall, which was never begun along the S flank, displays a remarkable progression around the N flank, from 1.2m high and complete with wall core faced inside and out to a maximum thickness of 3.8m adjacent to the entrance on the W, to a sector where the facing blocks had been put in place without the full height of core and are now cowped backwards like stacked dominoes onto a layer of rubble, and finally tailing off into to the eastern sector where no more than a rough and intermittent band of rubble marks its course. The area to be enclosed measures about 220m from ENE to WSW by 80m transversely (1.6ha) and there may have been a second entrance at the E end of the N side. The outer line is of rather different character, comprising rubble pile crudely in places along the leading edge of a quarried terrace that has been cut back irregularly into the slope, but unlike the inner, this can also be traced along the S flank of the hill, turning sharply back at the W end no more than 10m outside the inner line. It too has an entrance at the W end, and possibly another opposite the gap in the inner at the E end. Nevertheless, the lines are sufficiently eccentric to each other that it is possible that they are not contemporary, in which case the continuous outer circuit suggests that it is the earlier, enclosing an area of about 2.2ha. The interior is rough and peat covered and generally obscured by deep heather.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -466664  Y:  7917613  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.19211083229458  Latitude:  57.76260718600955  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:  Ross-shire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Logie Easter

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant  
Cropmark  
Likely Destroyed  

Land Use

None

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

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

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North  
Northeast  
East  
Southeast  
South  
Southwest  
West  
Northwest  
Level  

Altitude:  275.0m

Boundary

N/A


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

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

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

Highland HER hold a range of photographs, and RCAHMS a fine series of aerial views taken in 2009

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1872):   Named and annotated Wall in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Ross-shire 1880, sheet 54.1)
Other (1899):   Description (Excursion notes in Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club v, 362-3)
Earthwork Survey (1958):   Plan and description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS RCD 57/1 & DP157749; Feachem 1963, 149; 1971, 28-9)
Other (1970):   Visit and description by the OS
Other (1977):   Visited by RCAHMS
Other (1997):   Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group

Interior Features

Featureless

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

None

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

Excavation

None

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

Geophysics

None

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

Finds

None

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

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked  
None  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roads/Tracks  
Other  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
2:   Incomplete circuit

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   In both circuits, though they may represent separate periods of construction

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (West):   Through inner wall, only N side built
1. Simple Gap (West):   Gap in outer rampart
2. Simple Gap (North east):   Through inner wall, but not built
2. Simple Gap (North east):   Gap in outer rampart

Enclosing Works

Two eccentric circuits, the inner very clearly unfinished

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   1.6ha.
Area 2:   2.2ha.
Total:   2.2ha.

Total Footprint Area:  2.3ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   No trace of defences at the precipitous E end

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   0
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   2
Total:   2

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  
Unknown  

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  

Surface Evidence

None

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

Excavated Evidence

None

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

Other

Gang Working:
✓   Feachem suggests that the ragged character of the quarrying to the rear of the outer line is a manifestation of gang working (1971)

Ditches:
✗   None

Number of Ditches:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

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

Feachem, R W (1971) 'Unfinished hill-forts', in Hill, D and Jesson, M (eds) The Iron Age and its hill-forts: papers presented to Sir Mortimer Wheeler on the occasion of his eightieth year. Southampton



Terms of Use

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


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