Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK2004 (None)
NMR: NO 01 SW 18 (26688)
SM: 9434
NGR: NO 0230 1431
X: 302309 Y: 714317 (OSGB36)
The site of a fort in the woodland on Dun Knock was first discovered in 1978, when cropmarks revealed the lines of no fewer than four ditches in the field to the NW. Subsequent fieldwork has revealed traces of the ploughed down defences in the woodland on the S, demonstrating that it is oval on plan, measuring about 105m from ENE to WSW by 45m transversely if the defences follow the contour round the summit (0.37ha). The ditches form a belt some 35m deep on the N, but may have broadened still further around the W flank of the hill, where a fifth ditch appears between the outermost and the third; on the S the ramparts and ditches are reduced to a belt of four low scarps on the slope, at the foot of which there are traces of cultivation rigs forming a series of low terraces. All four ditches on the NE are pierced by an entrance where the terminals are visible on the N side of the gap; the outer three all appear to turn slightly inwards, whereas the innermost, turns slightly outwards in the direction of the terminal of the second ditch. Evaluation trenches were excavated in 2008 and 2009 (Poller 2008; Dalglish et al 2009), revealing evidence that timber, stone and turf had been used in the construction of at least one of the outer ramparts and several pieces of vitrifaction were noted. A possible sunken-floored structure was identified within the interior, producing fragments of both pottery and daub, a few stone tools and a rotary quern, and fragments of a saddle quern were re-used in the packing of a post-hole cut through it. A large quarry has been dug through the defences on the SW, while a narrower pit has been driven into the interior from the ESE.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -398605 Y: 7620620 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.580725426064262 Latitude: 56.31121258400759 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Perth & Kinross
Historic County: Perthshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Dunning
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: 95.0m
N/A
Unpublished radiocarbon dates
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| C14: | Unpublished dates |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1978): | Identified By RCAHMS aerial photography |
| Other (1998): | Fieldwalking recovers pieces of vitrifaction and a stone axe in the fields on the N, where a LBA socketed axe was found in 1981 (Hall 1998; Donaldson et al 2004) |
| Other (1998): | Limited surface survey (Lowe 1999) |
| Other (2001): | Scheduled |
| Excavation (2008): | Evaluation for Glasgow University SERF project (Poller 2008) |
| Excavation (2009): | Evaluation for Glasgow University SERF project Dalglish et al 2009) |
| Earthwork Survey (2015): | By RCAHMS |
Ploughed flat and planted largely with trees, at least one sunken-floored structure was located by excavation.
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 | ✗ |
Sunken-floored structure seen in an evaluation trench
| 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 | ✗ |
A small assemblage of pottery, daub, a few stone tools and a rotary quern, as well as fragments of a saddle quern
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✓ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
No clear features
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | Ploughed flat and the greater part of the circuit is undefined |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | Terminals of the ditches turn in slightly. |
Up to five ditches known on one side
| Area 1: | 0.37ha. |
| Total: | 0.37ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | The size of the interior is a crude estimate |
| ✗ | Unknown |
| NE Quadrant: | 4 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 5 |
| Total: | 5 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Pieces of vitrified stone
| 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: 5
| ✗ | None |
Dalglish, Lelong, MacGregor and Sneddon, C, O, G and D (2009) 'Dunknock, Perth and Kinross (Dunning parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 10 (2009), 148-149
Dalglish, Lelong, MacGregor and Sneddon, C, O, G and D (2009) Dunknock Hillfort Excavations 2009; Data Structure Report. Glasgow University SERF Project
Donaldson, Allison and Hall, C.H, S and M.A (2004) 'Vitrified Rocks from Dun Knock hillfort, Dunning, Perth and Kinross', Tayside Fife Archaeol J 10 (2004), 65-72
Hall, M (1998) 'Dun Knock Wood hillfort (Dunning parish), Neolithic polished stone axehead; ?vitrified material'. Disc Exc Scot (1998), 75
Lowe, C (1999) 'Dun Knock (Dunning parish), pre-afforestation survey'. Disc Exc Scot (1999), 70
Poller, T (2008) 'Dun Knock Hillfort, Perth and Kinross (Dunning parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 9 (2008), 144-145
Poller, T (2008) Dunknock Hillfort Excavations 2008; Data Structure Report. Glasgow University SERF Project
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