Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK1691 (None)
NMR: NN 95 SW 14 (26356)
SM: 4432
NGR: NN 9294 5132
X: 292940 Y: 751320 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the summit of Caisteal Dubh, which overlooks Balnaguard from the SW, and now lies in a clearing in extensive forestry. The main component of the fort is an oval enclosure on the summit measuring about 97m from NW to SE by 64m transversely (0.5ha) within a wall some 3m in thickness, though this has all but disappeared along the crag that falls away on the NE. In addition an annexe has apparently been added on the SW, abutting the main wall and forming a crescentic enclosure measuring a maximum of 85m in length by 26m in depth (0.22ha) within a rather narrow wall no more than 2.6m thick. Both walls have been robbed, but in 1957 the faces were still visible at various point along the circuit. On the SW and S of the annexe there is a relatively slight outer wall, the line of which is taken up towards the E by a shallow ditch. The interior of both the fort and the annexe are now featureless, and a circular structure about 4.5m across noted by Alexander Hutcheson and David Christison in the annexe has presumably been razed by the construction of a large sheepfold with stones robbed from the walls. The entrance into the fort is marked by a gap in the wall on the W immediately NW of the annexe, which itself has a possible entrance on the SE.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -417148 Y: 7687190 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.7473003723549687 Latitude: 56.64147596109547 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Perth & Kinross
Historic County: Perthshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Logierait
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Clearing in plantation
| 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: 340.0m
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: | Stone robbing and the construction of a sheepfold |
None
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1783): | Annotated Castle Dow on James Stobie's map of The Counties of Perth and Clackmannan (1783) |
| Other (1842): | Anonymous notes (RCAHMS MS3076) |
| Other (1863): | Named Castle Dow in Gothic type and (Site of Supposed Pictish Fort) on 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Perth and Clackmannan 1867, sheet 50.1) |
| Earthwork Survey (1888): | Plan and description by Alexander Hutcheson (1889, 365-7, fig 7) |
| Other (1899): | Description with Hutcheson plan by David Christison (1900, 71-2, fig 28) |
| Other (1957): | Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (Feachem 1963, 147) |
| Other (1970): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Other (1975): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Other (1987): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (2013): | Survey by Headland Ltd |
Featureless
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Structure noted in 1888 in the annexe has since been removed
| 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: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (West): | None |
Single wall round the annexe
| Area 1: | 0.5ha. |
| Total: | 0.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.99ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| 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 |
| ✗ | only on part of the annexe |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✓ | A crescentic enclosure butted onto the fort on the SW and enclosing an area of about 0.22ha within a wall 2.6m in thickness. A concentric outer wall can be traced on the SW and S, but it is of much slighter proportions and its line is taken up towards the E by a shallow ditch. There is a possible entrance into the annexe on the SE. |
Christison, D (1900) 'The forts, "camps", and other field-works of Perth, Forfar and Kincardine'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 34 (1899-1900), 43-120
Feachem, R W (1963) Guide to Prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Hutcheson, A (1889) 'Notes on the stone circle near Kenmore and of some hill forts in the neighbourhood of Aberfeldy, Perthshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 23 (1888-9), 356-67
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