Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC1205 Coneypark, Stirlingshire (Easter Auchincloich)

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Falkirk Community Trust, Falkirk Sites and Monuments Record 389 (None)

NMR:  NS 77 NE 5 (45857)

SM:  2579

NGR:  NS 7702 7918

X:  277020  Y:  679180  (OSGB36)

Summary

This fort is situated on a ridge of high ground NW of Coneypark. The defences, however, are only visible where they cross the spine of the ridge on the E and W respectively, comprising two heavily ploughed-down ramparts, but cropmarks on aerial photographs reveal that these were accompanied by at least three ditches on both the E and the W, and that the inner pair swing round the S flank. The cropmarks on the N flank are more diffuse, but there can be little doubt that the innermost ditch is also continuous around this side, and it is likely that in its original form the fort defences comprised a continuous belt of twin ramparts and ditches, enhanced on the crest of the ridge by the addition of a third line. The oval interior, which measures about 80m from E to W by at least 34m transversely (0.2ha), is featureless. The position of the entrance is unknown and there is no causeway across the ditches at the gap in the rampart identified by the RCAHMS investigators on the E (RCAHMS 1963, 75-6, no.76, fig 15).

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -442275  Y:  7556389  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -3.9730280901242154  Latitude:  55.989819280135684  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Falkirk

Historic County:  Stirlingshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Kilsyth

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant   ✓
Cropmark   ✓
Likely Destroyed   ✗

Land Use

None

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:  90.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.

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:   None
Post Hillfort:   Heavily ploughed down in the post-medieval period and also surface quarried

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

First noted in the Statistical Account in 1796 (Stat Acct xviii, 1796, 292), its remains were not located until 1954 during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands, and the plan was subsequently included in the County Survey for Stirlingshire (RCAHMS 1963, 75-6, no.76, fig 15). The cropmarks were photographed in 1977 by RCAHMS. It was Scheduled in 1992.

Investigations:
1st Identified Written Reference (1796):   Noted (Stat Acct xviii, 1796, 292)
Earthwork Survey (1954):   Plan and description (RCAHMS STD 15/1-2)
1st Identified Map Depiction (1959):   Visited by the OS
Other (1974):   Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Other (1977):   Vsited by the OS
Other (1977):   Cropmarks photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme
Other (1992):   Scheduled

Interior Features

Featureless

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

None

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:  
0:   Heavily ploughed down all round

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   Gap on E suggested as entrance by RCAHMS in 1954 is not reflected in the cropmarks photographed in 1984

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:No related records

Enclosing Works

two to three ditches, presumably each accompanied by upcast ramparts.

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

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   0
SE Quadrant:   3
SW Quadrant:   2
NW Quadrant:   3
Total:   3

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:
✓   None

Number of Ditches:  3

Annex:
✗   None

References

RCAHMS (1963) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Stirlingshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v. HMSO: Edinburgh



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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