Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC3082 Craig Hill, Angus

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO43NW0022 (None)

NMR:  NO 43 NW 22 (33365)

SM:  3038

NGR:  NO 4326 3586

X:  343262  Y:  735862  (OSGB36)

Summary

This fort, and the broch within the W end of its interior, occupies the summit of Craig Hill, which forms the W end of a long ridge of hard rock with steep slopes falling away on the W and along the S flank. The slopes are particularly steep around the W end, where the summit area rises no more than 10m across the crest of the ridge, providing a strong position for the fort, which is oval on plan and measures internally about 180m from E to W by 70m transversely (1.2ha). Under trees throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was first discovered by RCAHMS investigators, who drew a plan showing at least two ramparts reduced to stony scarps extending the length of the N flank, with fragments of two others on the slope below, while oblique aerial photography since has revealed the cropmarks of three or four concentric ditches cutting back across the crest of the ridge on the E to return along the S flank, where otherwise no trace of the defences has survived cultivation and quarrying. No less than four old trackways can be seen climbing the slope, three on the N and one on the S, but there is no evidence that any is an original entrance and the three on the N may have been servicing the quarries visible along this side of the interior. These quarries are probably responsible for removing the N end of what is assumed to be an outwork to the broch, partitioning off the W extremity of the interior. Comprising a stone-faced rampart spread about 4.5m in thickness by 0.6m in height, with an external rock-cut ditch 4m in breadth by 1.2m in depth, this forms a triangular enclosure in the W end of the fort measuring a maximum of 68m from N to S by 48m transversely (0.2ha). An entrance causeway in the middle of the E side faces directly towards the broch, which measures 10.6m in diameter within a wall 4.5m in thickness. While the supposed earthwork might be contemporary with the broch, it may just as easily be the remains of a free-standing defensive enclosure utilising the earlier fortifications. The OS noted three possible hut-circle immediately to the N of the broch, but this impression may have been caused by the probable quarrying in this area.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -325447  Y:  7660908  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -2.9235406233071393  Latitude:  56.51143121089168  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Angus

Historic County:  Angus

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Murroes

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant  
Cropmark  
Likely Destroyed  

Land Use

Areas of later quarrying both wihtin the interior and elsewhere on the flanks of the hill

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

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

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

Topographic Position

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

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North  
Northeast  
East  
Southeast  
South  
Southwest  
West  
Northwest  
Level  

Altitude:  130.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

The dating of the broch to probably the 1st/2nd centuries AD demonstrates that the fort here dates from the pre-Roman Iron Age

Reliability:  D - None

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

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   Possible cupmarked stone lies outside the entrance to the broch
Post Hillfort:   Overlain by a broch and later planted with trees throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries

Evidence:
Morphology/Earthwork/Typology:   Broch overlies

Investigation History

Photographed from the air in 1972 by John Dewar and subsequently in 1976, 1983 and 1984 by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme

Investigations:
Earthwork Survey (1957):   Plan and description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS AND 2/1-7 & DP147379; Steer 1957)
1st Identified Map Depiction (1958):   Visited by the OS
Other (1972):   Scheduled
Other (1994):   Re-Scheduled
Other (1994):   Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group

Interior Features

Featureless apart from the broch and later quarrying

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

Broch

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

Excavation

None

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

Geophysics

None

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

Finds

None

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

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked  
None  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roads/Tracks  
Other  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
4:   but large sectors of the defences have also been removed

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None known

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:No related records

Enclosing Works

Up to four ramparts, on the E accompanied by ditches, and with an inner enclosure around the broch at the W end

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   1.2ha.
Area 2:   0.2ha.
Total:   1.2ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   2
SE Quadrant:   4
SW Quadrant:   0
NW Quadrant:   2
Total:   4

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  
Unknown  

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  

Surface Evidence

None

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

Excavated Evidence

None

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

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✓   Only visible as cropmarks

Number of Ditches:  4

Annex:
✗   None

References

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

Steer, K A. (1957) Craighill, Angus'. Disc Exc Scot (1957), 39.



Terms of Use

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


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