Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2983: Dundarg Castle  

(Dundargue Castle; Castle of Dundarg; Cathair of Abbordobor)

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HER:  Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record NJ86SE0014

NMR:  NJ 86 SE 17 (19958)

SM:  2450

NGR:  NJ 8951 6491

X:  389510  Y:  864910  (EPSG:27700)

Boundary:  

Summary

Dundarg Castle occupies a narrow promontory running out from the coastal escarpment for a distance of about 80m across the wave cut rock platform that forms the foreshore. At the landward end there is also an earthwork defence comprising a broad flat-bottomed inner ditch with a V-shaped outer ditch forming a rectilinear forework with a frontage of some 80m facing SSW and extending well beyond the margins of the promontory. To their rear, however, at the very root of the promontory, there are also traces of another ditch, which on excavation proved to be some 4m in breadth by 2m in depth and was accompanied by an internal rampart (Fojut and Love 1983). Though undated, this possibly forms part of an earlier defence cutting off a narrow finger of ground measuring about 100m in length and no more than 15m in breadth (0.12ha). The proximity of the parish church of Aberdour to the castle, lying little more than 1km to the WSW, has also led to the correlation of the site of the castle with a reference in the Book of Deer to a Cathair or fortified place hereabouts. The case for an earlier fortification here has also been sustained by the discovery of an enamelled button during earlier excavations at the castle (see discussion in Fojut and Love 1983), and to a lesser extent with a wooden ard-point probably of Iron Age date recovered from one of the ditches (Rees 1983). The case is my no means conclusive, and as far as the documentary reference is concerned it is worth noting that General William Roy's Military map of Scotland (1747-55) annotates a rectangular enclosure on the cliffs roughly midway between the castle and the church 'Danish Entrenchments', suggesting there were other traditions of ancient enclosures in the neighbourhood.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed:  Falls well below the 0.2ha threshold, but the topographical position and the dated ditch indicate that this is a small promontory fort.

Location

X:  -242399  Y:  7899147  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -2.177511  Latitude:  57.674012  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Aberdeenshire

Historic County:   Aberdeenshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Aberdour

Condition

Extant:  
Cropmark:  
Likely Destroyed:  

Land Use

Largely occupied by the later castle

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

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

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  

Aspect

North:  
Northeast:  
East:  
Southeast:  
South:  
Southwest:  
West:  
Northwest:  
Level:  

Elevation

Altitude:  20.0m

Boundary

Boundary Type:  

Second HER:  

Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  

Second Historic County:  

Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  

Dating Evidence

Documentary reference to an early medieval fortification here possibly refers to the site of the castle, which has also produced an enamelled button possibly of Roman Iron Age date

Reliability:  D - None

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

Pre Hillfort Activity:  ✗  

Post Hillfort Activity:  ✓  Occupied by castle

Artefactual:  Enamelled button
None:  No details.
Other:  Supposed documentary reference

Investigations

While the ruins appearing on earlier maps, the earthwork defences are first shown on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1874, sheet 2.9). Both RCAHMS and Aberdeenshire Council hold oblique aerial views of the castle.

1st Identified Written Reference (1794):  Description of the earthworks (Stat Acct, xii, 17 578-9n)
1st Identified Map Depiction (1871):  Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1874, sheet 2.9)
Excavation (1911):  Of the castle (Beveridge 1914, 184-91)
Excavation (1912):  Of the castle (Beveridge 1914, 184-91)
Excavation (1950):  Of the castle (Simpson 1954; 1960); Archive by F T Wainwright held by RCAHMS
Excavation (1951):  Of the castle (Simpson 1954; 1960)
Other (1963):  Scheduled
Other (1967):  Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Earthwork Survey (1979):  RCAHMS ABD 521/1
Excavation (1981):  Of the early ditch (Fojut and Love 1981; 1983)
Other (2004):  Re-Scheduled

Interior Features

Entirely occupied by the castle

Water Source

None:  
Spring:  
Stream:  
Pool:  
Flush:  
Well:  
Other:  

Surface

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

Excavation

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

Geophysics

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

Finds

Enamelled button and wooden ard-point

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

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

APs Not Checked:  
None:  
Roundhouses:  
Rectangular Structures:  
Pits:  
Postholes:  
Roads/Tracks:  
Other:  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  0:  Not known but presumably from the neck on the SW

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗  

Enclosing Works

Single bank and ditch of possible early date cutting off promontory; other earthworks probably medieval

Enclosed Area 1:  0.12ha.
Enclosed Area 2:  
Enclosed Area 3:  
Enclosed Area 4:  
Total Enclosed Area:  0.1ha.

Total Footprint Area:  

Multi-period Enclosure System:  ✗  

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:  ✗  

Number of Ramparts:  1

Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:  
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:  
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:  1
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:  

Current Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  
Unknown:  

Multi-period Morphology

Partial Univallate:  
Univallate:  
Partial Bivallate:  
Bivallate:  
Partial Multivallate:  
Multivallate:  

Surface Evidence

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

Excavated Evidence

And ditch

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

Gang Working

Gang Working:  ✗ 

Ditches

Ditches:  

Number of Ditches:  1

Annex

Annex:  ✗  

References

Beveridge, W (1914) 'Notes on excavations at Dundargue Castle, Aberdeenshire, and on a stone circle and grave at New Deer, Aberdeenshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 48 (1913-14), 184-92

Fojut and Love, N and P (1981) 'Dundarg (Aberdour p): castle and fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1981), 11

Fojut and Love, N and P (1983) 'The defences of Dundarg Castle, Aberdeenshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 113 (1983), 449-56

Simpson, W D (1954) Dundarg Castle: a history of the site and a record of the excavations in 1950 and 1951, Aberdeen University Studies 131 (1954). Edinburgh

Simpson, W D (1960) 'Dundarg Castle reconsidered'. Trans Buchan Fld Club 17 (1960), 9-25

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The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:

Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.

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