LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 5864 (None)
NMR: NS 26 SW 2 (41289)
SM: 2178
NGR: NS 2028 6286
X: 220280 Y: 662860 (OSGB36)
This small fort encloses the summit of The Knock, a steep-sided ridge between Brisbane Glen on the E and the sea on the W, with a panoramic view across the Clyde estuary. Oval on plan, it measures about 50m from N to S by 29m transversely (0.09ha) within a rampart which stands up to 0.9m high internally and on the N, NW and S falls away externally some 1.8m to 2.4m into a shallow rock-cut ditch, accompanied on the N by a low counterscarp bank; pieces of vitrified rock have been recovered from the rampart, though no trace of vitrifaction is currently visible. A triangular terrace outside the ditch on the S has also been taken into the circuit of the defences by the addition of a second ditch, though there is little trace of any accompanying rampart along the lip of the terrace. The entrance was probably on the SE, but has been destroyed by a later access track, which climbs the hill in a broad spiral. Apart from the OS triangulation pillar on the summit, the interior is featureless.
Citizen Science: ✓
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -542201 Y: 7523750 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -4.870678425100754 Latitude: 55.82547270110337 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: North Ayrshire
Historic County: Ayrshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Largs
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: 205.0m
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: | Trackway built up to the fort; triangulation pillar in the interior |
This fort is first depicted in 1855 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Ayrshire 1857, sheet 3.4) and was noted in 1891 by David Christison (Christison 1893, 398) and a little later by John Smith (Smith 1895, 2). The fort was described in more detail by the RCAHMS in 1942 during the Emergency Surveys (Childe and Graham 1943, 38-9), and revisited again in 1952. The OS visited in 1956, revising the plan at 1:2500 in 1964, and revisiting in 1983. It was Scheduled in 1961. RCAHMS have taken detailed aerial photographs in 1983 and 2005.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1855): | Annotated Fort on the OS 25-inch map (Ayrshire 1857, sheet 3.4) |
| Other (1891): | Description by David Christison (1893, 398) |
| Other (1895): | Description by John Smith (Smith 1895, 2) |
| Other (1942): | Description by Angus Graham and Gordon Childe for the RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys (Childe and Graham 1943, 38-9) |
| Other (1952): | Description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1956): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1961): | Scheduled |
| Other (1964): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1983): | Visited by the OS |
| Excavation (2016): | Minor trenches into the defences for environmental sampling by Carol Lang of York University |
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 | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | Probably in the mutilated sector of the rampart on the SE |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single rampart and ditch, with outwork on the S
| Area 1: | 0.09ha. |
| Total: | 0.09ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.25ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Pieces of vitrifaction claimed, but no evidence currently visible, and nothing to suggest that the rampart has been vitrified (visited by S Halliday 2016)
| 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 |
| ✓ | On the S, but one elsewhere |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
Childe and Graham, V G and A (1943) 'Some notable prehistoric and medieval monuments recently examined by The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 77 (1943), 31-49
Christison, D (1893) 'The Prehistoric Forts of Ayrshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 27 (1892-93), 381-405
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 110)
Smith, J (1895) Prehistoric man in Ayrshire. 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