Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Moray per Aberdeenshire Council NJ16SE0007 (None)
NMR: NJ 16 SE 11 (16214)
SM: None
NGR: NJ 1627 6295
X: 316270 Y: 862950 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the Knock of Alves, otherwise better known as a landmark from the York Tower and Fortreath Mausoleum on its summit. The defences probably represent several phases of construction, according to RCAHMS investigators in 1957, breaking down into three components: a smaller inner enclosure on the very summit; an elongated enclosure taking in the crest of the ridge; and two outer ramparts lying lower down the slope. Subsequent OS surveyors struggled to identify some of these elements, nevertheless, the uppermost enclosure is roughly oval on plan and measures about 38m from ENE to WSW by 23m transversely within a rampart reduced to little more than a stony scarp on the WSW and NNW, but can hardly be distinguished along the lip of the summit on the ENE and SSE. Along the N flank the rampart seems to have dismounted from this lip to follow the line taken by the inner rampart of the next enclosure, though in their dilapidated states the relationship between the two is uncertain. This enclosure measures some 125m in internal length from ENE to WSW by 23m in breadth (0.23ha), and though its rampart is for the most part no more than a stony scarp, a run of the outer face can be seen on the SW. At the WSW end there is evidence of an outer rampart, which has probably extended along the NNW and ENE flanks of the hill beneath the later access track that climbs up to the summit on the E, possibly utilising an original entrance into the upper enclosure at this end. Yet further down the slope, the two outer ramparts, which have been levelled by cultivation on the ESE but can be followed from the eastern end along the N flank and round to an old quarry on the W, probably represent yet another phase of enclosure, taking in an oval area measuring 150m from E to W by 55m transversely (0.65ha); no entrance is in evidence. Excavation in advance of a cable trench in 1997 identified a ditch associated with the outer ramparts (Glendinning 1998).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -378988 Y: 7893887 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.4045060851365316 Latitude: 57.64873411984318 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Moray
Historic County: Morayshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Alves
Quarrying, afforestation, cultivation and the tracks up to the mausoleum have all damage parts of the site
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Heavy bracken cover in the openings
| 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: 103.0m
N/A
No stratified artefacts no 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, quarried and cultivated in different places and overlain by a mausoleum and the York Tower built in 1827 |
Aberdeenshire Council also hold aerial views taken in 1977
| Earthwork Survey (1957): | Plan and description (RCAHMS MOD 35/1 & DP044253; Feachem 1963, 140) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1962): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1972): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Excavation (1997): | In advance of a power cable (Glendinning 1998) |
Featureless apart from the mausoleam and the York Tower
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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 0: | Heavily degraded in most parts of the circuit |
| 2: | Speculated that it lay on the E where the modern track approaches the summit. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
At least five ramparts can be distinguished encircling parts of the hill, though none can be traced along the S flank
| Area 1: | 0.07ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.23ha. |
| Area 3: | 0.65ha. |
| Total: | 0.65ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | The relationship at the points of junction between the upper enclosure and the next line of defence is unclear. |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 4 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 5 |
| Total: | 5 |
| 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 |
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Glendinning, B (1998) 'Knock of Alves (Alves parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot (1998), 66
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