LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG4313 (None)
NMR: NX 77 SE 9 (64735)
SM: 1072
NGR: NX 7500 7043
X: 275000 Y: 570430 (OSGB36)
The remains of this small fort crown a steep-sided hillock with a precipitous crag on its SE flank. At least two separate defensive schemes can be recognised, the inner comprising an enclosure on the summit measuring about 30m from N to S by 18m transversely (0.04ha) within a rampart reduced to a stony scarp, and an outer of at least three ramparts with intermediate ditches backing onto the crag. While the inner is considered by some to be the earlier of the two (Feachem 1963, 131), as a result of the heavy stone-robbing that has taken place there is no visible evidence of the sequence. The outer scheme, however, encloses an oval area measuring about 37m from NE to SW by 34m transversely (0.1ha), and while the heavily robbed inner rampart, which measures at least 3.3m in thickness, may have formed a complete circuit, the ditches and ramparts outside it form a D-shaped belt of defence some 30m deep stepping down the slope on all sides except the SE, where the crag provided sufficient outer protection. The entrance is on the SW. Specimens of vitrified stone from the fort are held in Dumfries Museum, though there is no record of where in the defences they were found (Truckell 1972, 128).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -440418 Y: 7364331 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.9563450466898087 Latitude: 55.0126973868316 (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: 155.0m
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 |
Apparently shown in the topographical depiction but not annotated on John Ainslie's map of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (1797), it is first shown in any detail in 1848-50 on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 32). In 1891 it was described and sketch-planned by Frederick Coles (1892, 154-6, figs 61-3) and in 1911 planned by RCAHMS for the County Inventory of The Stewartry (RCAHMS 1914, 75-6, no.134, fig 63). Revisted by RCAHMS in 1951, it was re-surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS in 1973.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1797): | John Ainslie's map of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (1797) |
| Other (1850): | Named and annotated Moat on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 32) |
| Earthwork Survey (1891): | Description and sketch-plan (Coles 1892, 154-6, figs 61-3) |
| Earthwork Survey (1911): | Probably by Patrick Watson (RCAHMS 1914, 75-6, no.134, fig 63) |
| Other (1928): | Scheduled |
| Other (1951): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1973): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1995): | Re-Scheduled |
Apart from what is considered the earlier enclosure the interior is 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 | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | None |
Three ramparts and intermediate ditches
| Area 1: | 0.1ha. |
| Total: | 0.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.6ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✓ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Vitrifaction samples from the fort but context unknown.
| 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: 2
| ✗ | None |
Coles, F R (1892) 'The Motes, Forts, and Doons of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbrightshire. (Part II)' Proc Soc Antiq Scot 26, 117-70
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland, London
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
Truckell, A E (1972) 'Finds and sites, 1971-72', Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, Ser 3, 49
Atlas of Hillforts:
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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