Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO43SE0007 (None)
NMR: NO 43 SE 7 (33450)
SM: 2394
NGR: NO 4916 3489
X: 349160 Y: 734890 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the summit of Laws Hill, Drumsturdy. Heavily robbed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, subsequently about 1834 landscaped and planted with trees, and then subjected to a campaign of excavations by James Neish from the late 1850s (1859; 1864), the exact plan of the defences and their composition is difficult to discern on the ground, though the whole of the internal wall-face and entrance of the broch that was also disinterred within the interior is exposed. The scale of the defences is most easily appreciated on the E, where excavation has revealed two massive walls, the inner 9m in thickness by up to 1.5m in height and faced with large blocks and boulders, and the outer some 3m in thickness by 1.5m in height and diverging in its line towards the S. Elsewhere a band of stones extends along the margins of the summit, and a long run of inner wall-face is exposed on the W, but while these are assumed to be the remains of the outer and inner walls respectively, this cannot be demonstrated without excavation; indeed, if this is the case, the inner wall must be considerably thinner at the W end, where the distance from this inner face to the lip of the band of rubble is less than its overall thickness on the E. Nevertheless, extending some 12m beyond the band of rubble at the SW end traces of another wall can be seen, and all of the walls contain considerable quantities of vitrifaction. There are trackways leading up onto the summit on both the N and the S, but it is uncertain that either is original. According to the plan drawn up in 1859 by James Salmond, Neish seems to have traced out the line of the inner face of the inner wall further than is now visible, enclosing an area measuring about 120m from NE to SW by up to 45m transversely (0.45ha). In addition to the broch, which contained several layers of paving within its interior, Neish found numerous traces of other structures and evidence of occupation in the deeply stratified deposits within the interior. In addition to a double sided comb, a piece of lead, a spindle whorl, an iron pin, an iron 'buckle' and a crushed bronze armlet found within the broch (1864), two iron axes, an iron chain, an iron 'sword', a bronze spiral ring, a stone cup, and a bronze enamelled pin. According to Neish the inner wall at the E end 'was built upon rubbish' (1859, 442), implying that the defences may well represent several periods of construction.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -314759 Y: 7659283 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.827524128587003 Latitude: 56.50337490196955 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Angus
Historic County: Angus
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Monifieth
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: 130.0m
N/A
In the absence of modern excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences of the fort.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | Cupmarked stones |
| Post Hillfort: | Stone robbing from 1834 back into the 18th century. Thereafter levelled and planted with trees |
| Artefactual: | Range of artefacts but not from secure contexts |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1794): | Description (Stat Acct, xiii, 1794, 484-5) |
| Other (1827): | Description, according to David Christison from notes made in the 1790s (Jamieson 1834, 247-50) |
| Other (1842): | Description (NSA xi, Forfar, 545-6) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1858): | Annotated Vitrified Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Forfar 1865, sheet 51.13) |
| Earthwork Survey (1859): | By James Salmond (Neish 1859) |
| Excavation (1859): | by James Neish (1859; 1864; RCAHMS DP192551 & DC14985; DP192552 & DC14986) |
| Earthwork Survey (1899): | Part sketch-plan of the E end and description by David Christison (1900, 82-5, fig 39) |
| Earthwork Survey (1957): | Plan and description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS AND 1/1-3 & DC14989 ? DP147373) |
| Other (1958): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1964): | Scheduled |
| Other (1994): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
Featureless apart from the broch
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 | ✓ |
Broch and evidently traces of other structures
| 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 | ✗ |
A double sided comb, a piece of lead, a spindle whorl, an iron pin, an iron 'buckle' and a crushed bronze armlet were found within the broch (1864). Two iron axes, an iron chain, an iron 'sword', a bronze spiral ring, a stone cup, and a bronze enamelled pin were found elsewhere. At least one quernstone was found.
| 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: | None |
| 2: | Not known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Probably two walls round the entire circuit and probably a third on the SW
| Area 1: | 0.45ha. |
| Total: | 0.45ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.98ha.
None
| ✓ | Divergence of the walls suggests they may not be contemporary |
| ✓ | Excluding the broch within the interior |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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
Cotton, M A (1954) 'British camps with timber-laced ramparts'. Archaeol J 111 (1954), 26-105 (p 66-7)
Feachem, R W (1963) Guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Jamieson, J. (1834) 'On the vitrified forts of Scotland'. Trans Roy Soc Literature 2 (1834), 227-51
MacKie, E W. (2007) The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC-AD 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands. BAR: Oxford.
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.
Neish, J. (1859) Reference notes to plan and views of ancient remains on the summit of the Laws, Forfarshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 3 (1857-59), 440-54.
Neish, J. (1864) Further notice of explorations on the Hill of Laws, Forfarshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 5 (1862-64), 321-2.
Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
Stuart, J. (1859) Notes on Mr Neish's paper'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 3 (1857-59), 447-54.
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