Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Moray per Aberdeenshire Council NJ46NE0018 (None)
NMR: NJ 46 NE 8 (17408)
SM: 11040
NGR: NJ 4885 6877
X: 348850 Y: 868770 (OSGB36)
Traditionally the site of a castle or vitrified fort, excavation on the promontory known as Green Castle on the seaward side of Portnockie revealed a complex history of occupation. Only short lengths of the defences were visible on the surface, but the excavation revealed a burnt timber-framed wall of early medieval date, with longitudinal beams exposed in its wall face, extending along the SE margin of the summit from the SW end overlooking the neck to enclose an area measuring a maximum of 120m from NE to SW by 30m transversely (0.28ha). This includes an area where the ground slopes down to the edge of the cliffs at the seaward end, the relatively level upper part of the summit measuring about 70m in length by 15m in breadth (0.09ha). This wall also overlay an earlier palisade trench. The entrance has not been located but is presumably towards the SW end of the SE flank. Stratified sequences of structures and floors were also excavated, the latest of which were post-medieval fish-drying platforms and a late medieval building, but at least one sub-rectangular building is probably contemporary with the defences and other floors predate them and seal earlier deposits. Some of these latter probably date from the Iron Age, but Late Bronze Age pits were also present. An extensive assemblage of artefacts was recovered, including pottery, mould fragments, jet bracelet and ring fragments, and a glass ring, and the remains of bowl furnaces were also found.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -318370 Y: 7905786 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.859968617636158 Latitude: 57.70588866582673 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Moray
Historic County: Banffshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Rathven
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: 25.0m
N/A
The main phases of defence are dated to the early medieval
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 |
| Artefactual: | None |
| C14: | Eleven dates are available |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1794): | Notes the ruins of buildings both here and at Green Castle (Stat Acct 13, 1794, 423n) |
| Other (1867): | Notes tradition (Name Book, Banffshire, No.26, p 18) |
| Other (1962): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1967): | Description by the OS |
| Excavation (1976): | Directed by Ian Ralston |
| Excavation (1977): | Directed by Ian Ralston (Ralston and Fojut 1977) |
| Excavation (1978): | Directed by Ian Ralston (Ralston and Fojut 1978) |
| Excavation (1979): | Directed by Ian Ralston (Ralston and Fojut 1979) |
| Excavation (1980): | Directed by Ian Ralston (1980a; 1980b) |
| Excavation (1981): | Directed by Ian Ralston (1981; 1987) |
| Other (2004): | 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 | ✗ |
Stratified floors
| 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 | ✗ |
Assemblage includes pottery, mould fragments, jet bracelet and ring fragments, glass ring and animal bone.
| 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: | None |
| 2: | Not known, but presumed to be at the SW end |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single timber framed wall, overlying an earlier palisade around the landward flank of the promontory
| Area 1: | 0.28ha. |
| Total: | 0.28ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| 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 |
Name Book, Ordnance Survey Object Name Books (6 inch and 1/2500 scale); available https://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/
Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
Ralston, I (1980a) 'The Green Castle and the promontory forts of North-East Scotland'. Scot Archaeol Forum 10 (1980), 27-40
Ralston, I (1980b) 'Green Castle, Portknockie (Rathven p): promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1980), 15-16
Ralston, I (1981) 'Green Castle, Portnockie (Rathven p) Promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1981), 16-17
Ralston, I (1982) 'Green Castle, Portknockie (Rathven p): fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1982), 13-14
Ralston, I (1987) 'Portnockie: promontory forts and Pictish settlement in the North- East'. In Small, A The Picts: a new look at old problems. Dundee (p 15-26)
Ralston and Fojut, I and N (1977) 'Rathven, Portnockie: Green Castle promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1977), 9
Ralston and Fojut, I and N (1978) 'Green Castle: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1978), 12
Ralston and Fojut, I and N (1979) 'Greencastle, Portknockie (Rathven p): promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1979), 14, No. 87
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