HER:  Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK3203 (None)
NMR:  NO 11 NW 7 (28058)
SM:  9438
NGR:  NO 1313 1988
X:  313130  Y:  719880  (OSGB36)
The remains of a fort are situated on a local summit along the ridge of Moncrieffe Hill. Its defences comprise a heavily degraded rampart reduced to little more than a scarp which can be traced round the margins of the summit on the E, N and W. A line of facing stones is visible on the NW, where excavation in 2014 revealed a mass of tumbled stones on the slope below; further excavations in 2015 are being carried out to discover whether there are also outer defences lower down this slope below. A second trench through the rampart in 2014 showed that its core on the ENE was substantially of turf, while the extension of the trench down the slope in 2015 has revealed traces of what may be cut steps in the bedrock. The interior, which is featureless, is irregular on plan, measuring about 70m from ENE to WSW by 50m transversely (0.27ha), and there are entrances on the W and E. Fugitive traces of occupation were revealed by an evaluation trench in the interior, and finds to date include pottery, a fragment of shale bracelet, a few coarse stone tools and a possible gaming piece.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -379344  Y:  7631078  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -3.4077092079451194  Latitude:  56.36328566493745  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Perth & Kinross
Historic County:  Perthshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Dunbarney
None
Extant   | ✓ |
Cropmark   | ✗ |
Likely Destroyed   | ✗ |
Clearing having previously been under trees
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:  180.0m
N/A
No report yet available
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 |
C14:   | None |
None
1st Identified Map Depiction (1860):   | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Perth and Clackmannan 1866, sheet 98.14; Name Book, Perthshire, No.23, p 11) |
Other (1899):   | Visited by David Christison (1900, 80) |
Other (1964):   | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1996):   | Visited by RCAHMS |
Other (2001):   | Scheduled |
Earthwork Survey (2012):   | Plan (Oxford North 2012, Fig 4) |
Earthwork Survey (2014):   | AOC Archaeology |
Excavation (2014):   | Evaluation directed by David Strachan with AOC Archaeology |
Excavation (2015):   | Evaluation directed by David Strachan with AOC Archaeology |
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   | ✗ |
No details yet published
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, a fragment of shale bracelet, a few coarse stone tools and a possible gaming piece.
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
2:   | Incomplete circuit |
2:   | None |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
1. Simple Gap (East):   | None |
2. Oblique (West):   | Approached by track obliquely up the slope below the rampart |
2. Simple Gap (West):   | None |
Single rampart on three sides.
Area 1:   | 0.27ha. |
Total:   | 0.27ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✗   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
SE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SW Quadrant:   | 1 |
NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
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 |
Christison, D (1900) 'The forts, "camps", and other field-works of Perth, Forfar and Kincardine'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 34 (1899-1900), 43-120
Oxford North (2012) Hill-forts of the Inner Tay Estuary, Perth, Perth and Kinross: Phase One. Archaeological Survey Report
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