Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Highland HER MHG4689 (None)
NMR: NH 91 NW 13 (15387)
SM: 4157
NGR: NH 9051 1723
X: 290518 Y: 817230 (OSGB36)
This fort occupies a rocky hillock that forms a promontory projecting NE from the foot of the SE flank of Beinn Ghuilbin. Oval on plan, it measures about 66m from NNE to SSW by 23m transversely (0.12ha) within a wall reduced to little more than a stony scarp where it skirts the summit, and increasing in thickness to either side of the entrance on the SSW; the outer face is visible to the NW of the entrance. Traces of a second wall can be seen on the slope below the entrance above the gap in a third wall that forms an almost complete outer circuit on the leading edge of a lower terrace 3m wide about 15m beyond the inner wall enclosing the summit. It encloses an area measuring 95m from NNE to SSW by 55m transversely (0.41ha) and is again most substantial to either side of the entrance on the SSW, where the line of the outer face can also be traced to either side. The entrance opens onto the narrow col linking the hillock to the flank of the hill and is apparently protected by additional outwork, while between the inner and outer defences at this end there is a funnel-shaped arrangement of walls reduced to stony banks. The relationships between these various walls are unknown.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -424717 Y: 7807835 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.81530117119134 Latitude: 57.23272534881355 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Duthil And Rothiemurcus
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: 320.0m
N/A
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 | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Planted with trees |
Highland HER also hold ground views
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1880): | Noted by A Grant (1880) |
| Earthwork Survey (1910): | Sketch-plan of entrance, photographs and description (Cash 1910, 194-7) |
| Earthwork Survey (1958): | Plan and description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS IND 93/1-2; DC 11095; also DP157748 & DP148150-1 ) |
| Other (1969): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1978): | Scheduled |
Featureless
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 | ✗ |
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 | ✗ |
Obscured by trees
| 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. Outworks (South west): | An arc of wall outside the outer entrance appears to be additional protection |
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | Through inner rampart |
Two main walls with short sections of three additional walls flanking the entrance. The relationship between the main walls is unknown.
| Area 1: | 0.12ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.41ha. |
| Total: | 0.41ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.5ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 4 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 4 |
| 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
| ✗ | None |
Cash, C G (1910) 'Archaeological notes from Aviemore'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 44 (1909-10), 189-203
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Grant, A (1880) 'Stone circles and other ancient remains in Strathspey'. Trans Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club 1 (1875-80), 53-60
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