LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG4148 (None)
NMR: NX 76 NE 11 (64562)
SM: None
NGR: NX 7706 6619
X: 277060 Y: 566190 (OSGB36)
This fort, which has been heavily degraded by ploughing, tree planting and latterly about 1960 by deliberate demolition, is situated on a low rounded hill. Oval on plan, its interior probably measures about 67m from N to S by at least 46m transversely (0.24ha), though the defences have been reduced to little more than scarps 1.5m in maximum height on the N, and these are barely visible around the S half of the circuit. Nevertheless, the defences comprised at least two ramparts with a medial ditch, while the observation of possible traces of a third rampart on the W by the OS in 1968 suggests that there was probably an outer ditch too. The interior is featureless and the position of the entrance is unknown.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -436632 Y: 7357041 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.922328328027019 Latitude: 54.97513023580361 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Kirkcudbrightshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Crossmichael
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: 121.0m
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: | Incorporated into a post-medieval plantation |
A Moat is annotated but not depicted in this area by John Ainslie on his map of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (1797), and in 1848-9 the fort is depicted as a single ring of hachures in woodland on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1853, sheet 39). Frederick Coles sketch-planned the earthworks about 1891 (Coles 1892, 146-7, fig 55). Shortly after, about 1893-4, it was surveyed by the OS in greater detail at 1:2500 (Kirkcudbrightshire 1894, sheet 36.13), and this map also shows several other lengths of bank on the N and W, though these may relate to the traces of rig and furrow noted around the fort by RCAHMS in 1911 in the description drawn up for the County Inventory (RCAHMS 1914, 79, no. 142). It was revisited by RCAHMS in 1951 and re-surveyed by the OS at 1:2500 in 1968. It has also been photographed from the air on three occasions by RCAHMS (1987), CUCAP and Barri Jones.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1797): | John Ainslie's map of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (1797) |
| Other (1849): | Annotated Moat on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1853, sheet 39) |
| Earthwork Survey (1891): | Sketch-plan and description (Coles 1892, 146-7, fig 55) |
| Other (1894): | 25-inch depiction (Kirkcudbrightshire 1894, sheet 36.13) |
| Other (1911): | Description (RCAHMS 1914, 79, no.142) |
| Other (1951): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1968): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
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 | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None known
| 0: | The whole circuit is heavily degraded |
| 2: | None known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Twin ramparts, almost certainly with a medial ditch and probably with an outer ditch.
| Area 1: | 0.24ha. |
| Total: | 0.24ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.7ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 | ✗ |
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 |
| ✓ | At least one and probably two |
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
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