Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC3041 Dow Hill, Perthshire (Grange of Elcho)

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK6454 (None)

NMR:  NO 12 SW 235 (70801)

SM:  6718

NGR:  NO 1484 2146

X:  314840  Y:  721460  (OSGB36)

Summary

This fort occupies the eastern of two summits that form Dow Hill, a relatively insignificant wooded feature approached across a broad terrace from the SW, but with steep slopes falling away on the NNW down to the haughland on the S bank of the River Tay. Oval on plan, measuring about 110m from NNE to SSW by 100m in internal diameter (0.85ha), three-quarters of the circuit has been ploughed down and is known only from cropmarks, which on the SE quarter reveal three concentric ditches, the outer two about 3m broad and set some 6m apart, and the innermost little more than 1.5m broad and lying about 4m within them. In the plantation, however, which has been felled recently, elements of what are probably the two outer lines survive upstanding. The rampart of the inner of these is reduced to a scarp about 1.5m in height, and its external ditch, which is some 3m in breadth by 0.3m in depth, has been utilised for the track to an old quarry within the interior. The outer line comprises a rampart 0.3m high and spread 7m in thickness, with an external ditch 4.5m in breadth by 0.2m in depth and a low counterscarp bank spread about 5m in thickness. Entrances are visible in the clearly defined sectors of the cropmark on the ESE and SSW respectively, but around the W a modern agricultural mark has obscured all but the inner of the two outer ditches. To the W of the SSW entrance the line of the outer ditch seems to diverge from the inner before disappearing benath the agricultural markings. The slighter innermost ditch on the SE, however, respects both entrance gaps and is probably either an earlier perimeter or a later enclosure inserted into the interior immediately to the rear of the inner rampart. Most of the interior lies within the old plantation, but apart from the quarry it is featureless.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -376321  Y:  7633993  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -3.3805523850162817  Latitude:  56.37778791417235  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Perth & Kinross

Historic County:  Perthshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Rhynd

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:  60.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.

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 and partly planted with trees

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

Photographed on four occasions by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme

Investigations:
1st Identified Written Reference (1989):   Photographed for the first time by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme
Other (1996):   Description by RCAHMS
Other (1998):   Scheduled

Interior Features

Featureless apart from a modern quarry

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

None

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:   Ploughed flat in large sectors

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (South east):   None
2. Simple Gap (South):   None

Enclosing Works

Twin ditches revealed by cropmarks and two ramparts and a counterscarp bank surviving in the woodland; a lesser concentric ditch is also revealed by the cropmarks within the interior

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.85ha.
Total:   0.85ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   2
SE Quadrant:   2
SW Quadrant:   2
NW Quadrant:   2
Total:   2

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

None

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:  2

Annex:
✗   None

References

No related records



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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