HER:  Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO54SE0007 (None)
NMR:  NO 54 SE 7 (34709)
SM:  None
NGR:  NO 5775 4171
X:  357750  Y:  741710  (OSGB36)
What may be a fortification is situated on a steepsided promntory at the confluence of the Black Burn with the Elliot Water. First identified as part of a Roman Camp in the 19th century (NSA, xi, Forfar, 358), and depicted on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Forfar1865, sheet 45.12), subsequent visits by O G S Crawford (1949, 138) and RCAHMS in 1956, concluded that most of the visible remains were field boundaries, but on the SE a bank up to 5.8m in thickness by 1.5m in height was observed cutting across the neck of the promontory. The bank, however, was accompanied on its E side by a ditch 3m broad and 0.3m deep, thus lying on its inner side, and though one OS surveyor in 1958 thought he could detect a kerb and a scatter of stones belonging to an inner rampart, a second surveyor in 1966 could see no trace of these. No fieldwork has been conducted since, but if indeed a promontory enclosure, measurements taken from the 1st edition OS 25-inch map indicate that the bank and ditch bar the W approaches to an area measuring about 120m from E to W by 30m transversely (0.28ha). No features have been noted within the interior, which is back under dense deciduous woodland.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Unconfirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed
X:  -299349  Y:  7671823  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.6890970751555856  Latitude:  56.56549303318321  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Angus
Historic County:  Angus
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Carmyllie
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:  90.0m
N/A
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor 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 |
None
1st Identified Written Reference (1754):   | Sketched by Robert Melville (Crawford 1949, 138) |
Other (1833):   | Noted (NSA, xi, Forfar, 358) |
1st Identified Map Depiction (1859):   | Annotated Roman Camp in Roman type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Forfar1865, sheet 45.12) |
Other (1943):   | Description by OGS Crawford (1949, 138) |
Other (1956):   | Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
Other (1958):   | Visited by the OS |
Other (1966):   | Resurveyed at 1:2500 |
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   | ✗ |
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   | ✗ |
Obscured by trees
APs Not Checked   | ✗ |
None   | ✓ |
Roundhouses   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures   | ✗ |
Pits   | ✗ |
Postholes   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
See main summary
0:   | None |
2:   | None known |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
Single bank and ditch
Area 1:   | 0.28ha. |
Total:   | 0.28ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✗   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SW Quadrant:   | 0 |
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:  1
✗   | None |
Crawford, O G S (1949) Topography of Roman Scotland north of the Antonine Wall. Cambridge
NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy. Edinburgh.
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