Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Moray per Aberdeenshire Council NJ04NW0004 (None)
NMR: NJ 04 NW 5 (15755)
SM: None
NGR: NJ 0039 4955
X: 300390 Y: 849550 (OSGB36)
The Doune of Relugas is a vitrified fort occupying a steep-sided hillock within a bend in the gorge of the River Divie not far above its confluence with the River Findhorn. The vitrified wall has been heavily disturbed, on the one hand by a modern revetment and on the other by a garden wall encircling the summit, which is roughly oval on plan and measures about 48m from WNW to ESE by 27m transversely (0.1ha). Having been variously a shrubbery and a vegetable garden, the only feature visible within the interior is a pile of cleared stones on the E. While the modern path gains the summit on the E, it is not certain that this represents the original position of the entrance, but access from the N and W is blocked by an outer ditch and rampart set at the foot of the hillock and extending out to the edge of the gorge on the E; the ditch is some 5.5m broad and 2m deep, while the rampart on its outer lip is 5.5m thick by 1.5m in height. They are pierced by a modern cutting on the NW and truncated by the construction of outbuildings to the old house on the SW.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -407980 Y: 7868228 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.6649450387591123 Latitude: 57.52518563592327 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Moray
Historic County: Morayshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Edinkillie
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: 130.0m
N/A
Ring-headed pins were possibly found here but 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 | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
Moray HER also hold several ground views
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1793): | Description (Stat Acct 8, 1793, 565) |
| Excavation (1842): | Diggings by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder reported and the discovery of pottery (NSA 13, Elginshire, 185) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1871): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Elginshire 1874, sheet 15.15; Name Book, Elginshire, No.23, p 54) |
| Other (1943): | Sketch outline and description by Angus Graham and Gordon Childe for RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys |
| Earthwork Survey (1957): | Plan and description by RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS DC31564-5 & DP149897-8; Feachem 1963, 139-40) |
| Other (1971): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1975): | Wall and animal bones observed on the E (Keillar 1975) |
| Other (1977): | Vitrifaction observed (Aberdeen Archaeological Services 1977) |
| Other (1991): | Description by RCAHMS |
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 | ✗ |
Pottery now lost, but two ring-headed pins may also have been found here
| 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: ✗
Single wall around the summit and an outwork on two sides
| Area 1: | 0.1ha. |
| Total: | 0.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.7ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 2 |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Aberdeen Archaeological Surveys (1977) 'Edinkillie, Doune of Relugas'. Disc Exc Scot (1977), 23
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Keillar, I (1975) 'Edinkillie, Doune of Relugas'. Disc Exc Scot (1975), 33
NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy, 15v Edinburgh
Stat Acct (Date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
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