Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC1494 Braes, Stirlingshire

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 381 (None)

NMR:  NS 78 SE 4 (45973)

SM:  456

NGR:  NS 7973 8476

X:  279730  Y:  684760  (OSGB36)

Summary

The remains of a small fort are situated on a steep-sided hillock to the rear of Braes. Subrectangular on plan, it measures 45m from N to S by 26m transversely (0.11ha) within what has been a formidable wall, which for the greater part of its circuit has been reduced to no more than a low mound of rubble. On the SE, however, two runs of the outer face can be seen on the slope about 3m below the crest, and in one place this still stood four courses high when the fort was surveyed by RCAHMS in 1953; a large mass of vitrified stones were also noted on the SE, between the inner wall and traces of what was identified as an outer wall following the lip of a natural terrace round the S, E and N flanks of the knoll; no trace of this outer work was found when the OS revised the 1:2500 depiction in 1974. The entrance is on the NW.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✓

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -437721  Y:  7566505  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -3.9321134239903555  Latitude:  56.040613477804  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Falkirk

Historic County:  Stirlingshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Dunipace

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:  120.0m

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:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

Although first noted in 1792 in the Statistical Account (Stat Acct, iii, 1792, 336-7), curiously the fort does not appear on earlier editions of large scale OS maps and is first recorded in detail in 1953 during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 157) and was included in the County Inventory for Stirlingshire (RCAHMS 1963, 74-5, no.74, fig 13). Appearing on the OS 25-inch map in 1960, the survey was revised at 1:2500 in 1974. It was Scheduled in 1966 and revisited by RCAHMS about 1977.

Investigations:
1st Identified Written Reference (1792):   Noted (Stat Acct, iii, 1792, 336-7)
Earthwork Survey (1953):   Plan and description during RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS 1963, 74-5, no.74, fig 13; RCAHMS STD 10/1-3)
1st Identified Map Depiction (1960):   Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Other (1966):   Scheduled
Other (1974):   Revised at 1:2500 by the OS
Other (1977):   Description by RCAHMS
Other (2014):   Visited by John Lumley on behalf of the Hillfort Atlas Project

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

Obscured by trees

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:  
1:   Large gap destroyed by felling operations on the S

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (North west):   None

Enclosing Works

Inner wall with possible outer on three sides

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.11ha.
Total:   0.11ha.

Total Footprint Area:  0.22ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   2
SE Quadrant:   2
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   2
Total:   2

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:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

Feachem, R W (1963) Guide to Prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: Edinburgh

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

Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99



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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