Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC3040 Hilton House, Perthshire (The Roundel)

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK3448 (None)

NMR:  NO 12 SW 189 (28352)

SM:  None

NGR:  NO 1149 2010

X:  311490  Y:  720106  (OSGB36)

Summary

Cropmarks have revealed the presence of a fort encircling the hillock surmounted by Hilton House. At least five ditches are present on the NW, extending round onto the NE, but the rest of the hillock is clothed in woodland with a dense understorey. Geophysical survey has confirmed the presence of the ditches elsewhere (Poller 2012) and at least two of the ditches were located in a cable trench on the E (Lewis 2009); more recently traces of the two outermost ramparts on the SW have been recorded within the woodland, while a scarp 2m high on the SE is possibly a fragment of the inner rampart. The projection of the cropmarks, combined with this new survey, suggests that the fort encloses an oval area measuring about 70m from NW to SE by up to 50m transversely (0.27ha), though there may be a rather smaller inner enclosure on the summit. The cropmarks reveal a clear entrance on the NW, to the S of which there may have been a reduction in the number of ditches and ramparts, and there may be a second entrance on the E.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -382307  Y:  7631425  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -3.4343220865963615  Latitude:  56.36501128082345  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Perth & Kinross

Historic County:  Perthshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Forgandenny

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:  57.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

Radiocarbon dates have yet to be published

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:   Ploughed flat, planted largely with trees and then partly built on

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

Photographed on least eight occasions by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme since its discovery by John Dewar in 1975

Investigations:
1st Identified Written Reference (1975):   First photographed by John Dewar
Other (1997):   Description by RCAHMS
Excavation (2009):   Watching brief in cable trench (Lewis 2009; RCAHMS MS7070 )
Geophysical Survey (2012):   By Tessa Poller for the Glasgow University SERF project (Poller 2012)
Excavation (2013):   Evaluation by Tessa Poller (2014)
Earthwork Survey (2015):   Plan and description (RCAHMS SC1495144 & GV005954)

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

Merely the defences

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

NO APPARENT FEATURES

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:  
2:   Incompletely known circuit levelled by cultivation

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (East):   None
2. Simple Gap (North west):   Reduction in the number of ditches to the S

Enclosing Works

At least five ditches, presumably accompanied y upstanding ramparts

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.27ha.
Total:   0.27ha.

Total Footprint Area:  1.14ha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   Probably a complete circuit but only part known from cropmarks

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   5
SE Quadrant:   0
SW Quadrant:   0
NW Quadrant:   5
Total:   5

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

Ditches

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:  5

Annex:
✗   None

References

Lewis, J (2009) 'The Roundel, Craigend, Perth, Perth and Kinross (Forgandenny parish), watching brief'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 10 (2009), 149-50

Poller, T (2012) The Roundel Geophysical Survey: Data Report. Glasgow University, SERF

Poller, T (2014) 'Forgandenny, The Roundel: SERF, Excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 14 (2013), 154



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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