LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record NJ56NW0017 (None)
NMR: NJ 56 NW 14 (17947)
SM: None
NGR: NJ 5483 6717
X: 354830 Y: 867170 (OSGB36)
Crathie Point, the large headland due E of Findlater Castle, is cut off on the SSW, landward, side by two lines of ramparts and ditches. The inner cuts off an area measuring 170m from NNE to SSW by a maximum of 90m transversely (1.25ha), though this includes the flanks of the promontory sloping down to the cliff-edge; the more easily occupied summit area is in the order of 0.47ha. The outer encloses a much bigger area measuring 230m in overall length by up to 135m in breadth (1.8ha), though again the more level summit area is rather less, probably extending to about 1.12ha. The inner or northern rampart is up to 7.5m in thickness, by 0.5m in height externally and 1.5m internally, and is flanked to either side by ditches about 3m in breadth. The outer line, which lies at the edge of the cultivated field 50m to the S, is also some 7.5m in thickness but only 0.3m in height and was probably accompanied by a ditch on its S; this rampart can be traced for a distance of about 50m across the promontory from the W, the line of its probable ditch being carried on eastwards from the corner of the field by a natural gully. A gap between the cliff-edge on the W and the end of the rampart probably marks the position of an entrance, while a causeway across the ditches at the E end of the inner defences also marks an original entrance. There is no evidence to indicate whether the two lines of defences are contemporary.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -307167 Y: 7902926 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.7593306617834616 Latitude: 57.69215982007249 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Aberdeenshire
Historic County: Banffshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Fordyce
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: 45.0m
N/A
A single radiocarbon date from a spread of charcoal in the upper fill of the inner ditch behind the inner rampart
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 |
| C14: | A single radiocarbon date from an evaluation of the defences |
Aberdeen Archaeological Services have taken oblique aerial photographs, copies of which are held by both Aberdeenshire Council and RCAHMS
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1896): | Noted (Buie 1896, 41) |
| Other (1956): | Included in the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1960): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1967): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (2006): | Plan and description (Irving et al 2006) |
| Excavation (2014): | Evaluation trench into the defences (Northern Picts Project Annual Report 2014, 34-6) |
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
| 2: | None |
| 2: | Generally only one to the promontory; the relationship between the entrances through the inner and outer defences is unknown |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South): | Through inner rampart |
| 2. Simple Gap (South): | Through outer rampart |
Two wide-spaced lines of ramparts and ditches cutting off a promontory
| Area 1: | 1.25ha. |
| Area 2: | 1.8ha. |
| Total: | 1.8ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 2 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Ditches
| 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: 3
| ✗ | None |
Buie, J (1896) 'Excursion to Findlater Castle and Cullen'. Trans Banffshire Fld Club (1896), 41
Irving, Anderson, Cooper and Bruggimann, D, D, K and A (2006) 'Crathie Point, Aberdeenshire (Crathie Point), survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 7 (2006), 18
Northern Picts Project Annual Report 2014 available at https://www.tarbat-discovery.co.uk/files/3114/2305/0534/Northern-Picts-Project-annual-report-2014.pdf
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