Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG3991 (None)
NMR: NX 74 NE 7 (64402)
SM: 1063
NGR: NX 7976 4715
X: 279760 Y: 547150 (OSGB36)
This precipitous promontory is cut off from the N by a rampart about 5m in thickness and fronted by a ditch 10m in breadth. The rampart terminates short of the margin of the promontory on the E, probably marking the position of the entrance. The interior measures about 38m from NNE to SSW by a maximum of 42m transversely (0.11ha) and is featureless apart from traces of a bank cutting across parallel with the rampart some 5.5m to its rear; this may belong to an earlier phase of enclosure.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -431053 Y: 7324069 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.8722193321966305 Latitude: 54.80477819719286 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Kirkcudbrightshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Rerrick
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: 30.0m
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: | None |
The headland is annotated Castle Muir Point on Roy's Map (1747-55) and subsequent county maps, but the fort is first depicted in 1849 on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 51). Frederick Coles was unable to visit in 1891 owing to illness and solicited a description from the tenant of the a neighbouring farm (Coles 1892, 122-4). In 1911 a description was drawn up fort he County Inventory of The Stewartry (RCAHMS 1914, 234, 409), and RCAHMS revisited in 1953 to make a plan.
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1829): | Referred to by James Skene (1829, 24-5) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1849): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 51) |
| Other (1891): | Description (Coles 1892, 122-4) |
| Other (1911): | Description (RCAHMS 1914, 234, 409) |
| Other (1937): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1953): | 1:250 (RCAHMS KBD 3/1-2; DP148836-7 ) |
| Other (1969): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
Apart from traces of a bank lying to the rear of the rampart, it is featureless
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Bank
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | None |
Rampart and external ditch cutting off promontory. possibly traces of an earlier perimeter within the interior.
| Area 1: | 0.1ha. |
| Total: | 0.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 |
Coles, F R (1892) 'The Motes, Forts, and Doons of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbrightshire. (Part II)' Proc Soc Antiq Scot 26, 117-70
RCAHMS (1914) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Fifth report and inventory of monuments and constructions in Galloway, II, county of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Edinburgh
Skene, J (1829) A series of sketches of the existing localities alluded to in the Waverley Novels. Edinburgh; London
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