LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO33SW0007 (None)
NMR: NO 33 SW 7 (32052)
SM: 140
NGR: NO 3321 3279
X: 333210 Y: 732790 (OSGB36)
First investigated in 1865 by Andrew Jervise (1866), excavations at the Hurly Hawkin 1958-68 (Taylor 1982) uncovered evidence of a complex sequence of settlement in which both a broch and a souterrain had been constructed over the remains of an earlier promontory fortification. The NE sector of the broch wall was built over the remains of an upcast clay rampart derived from the inner of two ditches cutting across the neck of the steep-sided promontory on the N, the inner 6.5m by 2.5m, and the outer 5.1m by 1.7m, broad and deep respectively. Towards the W the ditches appeared to coalesce into one, and while the excavator presented this as a contemporary feature of the defences, it might equally indicate that the ditches themselves represent several periods of construction; the inner ditch was subsequently adapted as the construction trench for a souterrain. No measurements of the interior of this earlier promontory enclosure are recorded in the published report, but from the 1st edition OS 25-inch map they may be estimated at about 50m from E to W immediately to the rear of the rampart by 45m transversely (0.14ha). The interior sloped from N to S and evidence of earlier occupation was recorded beneath the broch, including an arc of close-set posts in a bank of clay with a projected diameter of 15m and evidence of internal paving; this is likely to have been a large timber round-house rather than a free-standing enclosure, though whether associated with the promontory fortification is unknown.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -343538 Y: 7655077 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.0860586924348254 Latitude: 56.482515623802165 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Angus
Historic County: Angus
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Liff And Benvie
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: 80.0m
N/A
The promontory fort dates from before the Roman Iron Age
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | Cupmarked stone from the souterrain. A Late Bronze Age pin was also found |
| Post Hillfort: | Overlain by broch and souterrain and a burial was inserted into the top of the broch |
| Artefactual: | Extensive assemblage from the broch and souterrain contexts providing a pre-Roman Iron Age context for the promontory enclosure. |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1794): | Noted (Stat Acct, xiii, 1794, 116) |
| Excavation (1794): | Dug into before 1794 (Stat Acct, xiii, 1794, 116) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1859): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Forfar 1865, sheet 53.2) |
| Excavation (1865): | Broch identified by Andrew Jervise with burial inserted into the top (1866; RCAHMS SAS 503, DC53976) |
| Other (1953): | Scheduled |
| Other (1957): | Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands identifies the ditches |
| Excavation (1958): | Taylor 1958; 1982 |
| Excavation (1959): | Taylor 1959; 1982 |
| Excavation (1960): | Taylor 1960; 1982 |
| Excavation (1961): | Taylor 1961; 1982 |
| Excavation (1962): | Taylor 1962; 1982 |
| Excavation (1963): | Taylor 1963; 1982 |
| Excavation (1964): | Taylor 1964; 1982 |
| Excavation (1965): | Taylor 1965; 1982 |
| Excavation (1966): | Taylor 1966; 1982 |
| Excavation (1967): | Taylor 1967; 1982 |
| Excavation (1968): | Taylor 1982 |
| Other (2015): | Re-Scheduled |
Possibly a large timber round-house
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Broch
| 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 | ✗ |
Extensive assemblage from broch and souterrain contexts, including Roman goods. These are excluded here, and the finds from earlier contexts include a bone mount, a bone needle, a spindle whorl, a facetted piece of haematite, while a saddle quern was found in the paving in the broch.
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
Obscured by trees
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None known
| 0: | None |
| 2: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Twin ditches with an inner rampart cutting off a promontory
| Area 1: | 0.14ha. |
| Total: | 0.14ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | Overlain by the broch and the souterrain |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Two ditches
| 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: 2
| ✗ | None |
Jervise, A (1866) 'Account of excavations at Hurley Hawkin, near Dundee'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 6 (1864-6), 210-14
Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
Taylor, D B (1958) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1958), 2
Taylor, D B (1959) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1959), 1
Taylor, D B (1960) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1960), 3
Taylor, D B (1961) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1961), 5
Taylor, D B (1962) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1962), 2
Taylor, D B (1963) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1963), 1
Taylor, D B (1964) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1964), 2
Taylor, D B (1965) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1965), 3-4
Taylor, D B (1966) 'Hurley Hawkin, Liff and Benvie'. Disc Exc Scot (1966), 2
Taylor, D B (1967) 'Hurly Hawkin, Liff and Benvie: promontory fort, broch and souterrain'. Disc Exc Scot (1967), 1
Taylor, D B (1982) 'Excavations of a promontory fort, broch and souterrain at Hurly Hawkin, Angus'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 112 (1982), 215-53
Atlas of Hillforts:
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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