LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Stirling 847 (None)
NMR: NS 79 SE 60 (46246)
SM: 2566
NGR: NS 7687 9176
X: 276870 Y: 691760 (OSGB36)
This fort occupies a triangular promontory formed where a broad gully breaks through the cliffs on the W flank of Gillies Hill. Having been cleared of the plantation that had covered the area since the early 19th century, the fort now lies in a bracken infested clearing. Three ramparts cut off the approach to the promontory from the N and E, describing a shallow arc to enclose an area measuring a maximum of 90m from NNW to SSE by 40m transversely (0.19ha). The entrances are probably on the N and E where the ramparts appear to terminate short of the cliff-edge. The interior is featureless. In 1984 a trial excavation across the southern end of the defences revealed that the ramparts measured about 3m in thickness, comprising rough stone facings and a core scraped up from either side; the outer, which is generally the best preserved of the three, stood 0.6m high in this sector (Rideout 1992). Apart from sherds of two Early Bronze Age Beakers, finds included parts of two large Iron Age vessels, one incorporated into the core of the middle rampart, and the other into an accumulation of material behind the inner rampart, and part of a stone bracelet from behind the outer rampart. Of three old radiocarbon dates, the most recent may be from an intrusive sample and the other two point to an Early Iron Age occupation.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -443187 Y: 7578896 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.9812138444203193 Latitude: 56.10274211293694 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Stirling
Historic County: Stirlingshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: St Ninians
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Has been under trees
| 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: 135.0m
N/A
Three old radiocarbon dates include: 510-210 cal BC from the deposit accumulated to the rear of the inner rampart; 770-380 cal BC from material incorporated into the middle rampart; 370 BC - AD 80 from a branch found between the facing stones of the middle rampart, and possibly intrusive.
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | Non diagnostic |
| C14: | None |
First recorded in 1957 during the preparation of the County Inventory for Stirlingshire (RCAHMS 1963, 71-2, no.70, fig 9), it was Scheduled in 1966. The OS visited in 1973, and RCAHMS again in 1978. Trial excavations were directed by Jim Rideout in 1984.
| Earthwork Survey (1957): | Sketch-plan (RCAHMS 1963, 71-2, no.70, fig 9; RCAHMS STD 25/1-2) |
| Other (1966): | Scheduled |
| Other (1978): | Description by RCAHMS |
| Excavation (1984): | Rideout 1984; 1992 (Archive held in RCAHMS) |
| Earthwork Survey (1985): | 1:500 by Peter Hill for the excavation report (RCAHMS BD 89/3) |
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
| 4: | Later plantation trackway cuts through the defences in two places |
| 2: | At the margins of the promontory |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North): | None |
| 2. Simple Gap (East): | None |
Three ramparts across a promontory
| Area 1: | 0.19ha. |
| Total: | 0.19ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.33ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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 |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
RCAHMS (1963) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Stirlingshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v. HMSO: Edinburgh
Rideout, J (1984) 'Gillies Hill (St Ninian's p), fort', Disc Exc Scot 1984, 4
Rideout, J (1992) 'Gillies Hill' in Rideout, J, Owen, O A and Halpin, E (eds) Hillforts of southern Scotland. AOC Scotland & Historic Scotland: Edinburgh, 127-36
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