LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust MPK5185 (None)
NMR: NO 25 SE 23 (31061)
SM: 1591
NGR: NO 2623 5038
X: 326230 Y: 750380 (OSGB36)
This fort encloses the summit of Barry Hill, a lower isolated hill separated from the Hill of Loyal and the rest of the Hill of Alyth on the W by the steep-sided gully that carries the public road northwards from Alyth into Glen Isla. The defences are evidently complex, but while the innermost enclosure and a substantial outer wall on the E and S might reasonably be presented as the final phase of construction, the extent and overall plan of the earlier circuits is unclear. The innermost enclosure stands on the summit and forms an elongated oval on plan, measuring 80m from E to W by 25m transversely (0.16ha) within what was probably a timber-laced wall reduced to a bank of rubble 10m in thickness and standing between 2m and 2.5m high internally. On the S and E the scree of rubble descends in excess of 6m into the bottom of an external ditch. Fragments of vitrifaction are scattered through the rubble and one larger mass is visible adjacent to what is probably an entrance causeway across the ditch at the ESE corner, though it is unclear how this provided access into the interior. The present entrance trackway extends along the lip of the natural slope on the N flank of the hill, apparently following an original route round the end of the outer defences, before turning to ride up onto the rubble of the inner wall. This route probably superseded an earlier trackway mounting the slope on the ESE, where it is clear that an entrance through the massive outwork 16m in thickness by from 3.5m to 1.2m in height that protects the E and S has been blocked. Further complexities in the accretion of these outer defences are provided by the irregularities along the course of the ditch, which may indicate episodes of re-cutting, and an outer rampart creating a feature akin to a bastion between the blocked entrance and the approach track that succeeded it on the N. At least three additional lines of defence that probably relate to earlier schemes can be seen at the W end, the upper of which extends the length of the N side and loops round the tip of a spur projecting towards the W above a deep hollow containing a pond in the W end of the hill. A second rampart is butted onto this upper line on the spur, dropping down southwards to enclose the pond within an annexe and possibly including an entrance on its S side before petering out eastwards, while on the slope above it in this sector, with an entrance on the W leading towards the pond, there is yet another arc of rampart; this last is perhaps overlain by the massive outwork of the inner fort. The only internal features within the upper enclosure are two shallow hollows, one of which appears subrectangular.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -356709 Y: 7686783 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.20437553979141 Latitude: 56.63946755000442 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Perth & Kinross
Historic County: Perthshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Alyth
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: 208.0m
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: | Two rectangular bothies overlie the ditch to either side of the entrance trackway on the ENE |
RCAHMS also hold both ground and aerial photographs
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1727): | Noted (Macfarlane 1906, i, 114) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1783): | Castle in Ruins on James Stobie's map of The counties of Perth and Clackmannan (1783) |
| Other (1791): | Description noting vitrifaction (Stat Acct, i, 1791, 508-9; vi, 1793, 405-6n ) |
| Earthwork Survey (1827): | Sketch-plan and description by Sir George Mackenzie (1857) |
| Other (1843): | Description (NSA, 10, Perthshire, 1117-8) |
| Other (1863): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Perth and Clackmannan 1867, sheet 53.3) |
| Earthwork Survey (1899): | Pan and description by David Christison (1900, 93-6, fig 46) |
| Other (1942): | Visited by Angus Graham and Gordon Childe for the RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys |
| Other (1956): | Description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Other (1958): | Scheduled |
| Other (1970): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Earthwork Survey (1988): | Plan and description (RCAHMS DC14559-60; RCAHMS 1990, 27-9, no.102) |
| Other (1996): | Re-Scheduled |
Two hollows, one of which is subrectangular and possible the site of a building
Contained within an annexe and sometimes dries out in high summer
| None | ✗ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✓ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Two hollows, one of which is subrectangular and possible the site of a building
| 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
| 4: | None |
| 2: | The character of the entrance through the innermost rampart is uncertain. The entrances enumerated below are all in the outer line of defence |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Oblique (North east): | via trackway around the N terminal of the outwork, exposing the left side |
| 2. Blocked (South east): | Through an outer rampart and subsequently blocked by th eoutwork |
| 3. Simple Gap (West): | Gap in an arc of rampart probably superseded by the massive outwork, and into the area enclosed aroud the pond |
Core fort with probably vitrified wall and a massive outwork
| Area 1: | 0.16ha. |
| Total: | 0.16ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.8ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 3 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | One around the S and E, but possibly a second on the E outsid ethe bastion rampart. |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✓ | The rampart taking in an annexe of about 0.2ha at the W, drops down the slope to enclose a pond, The annexe has an entrance on the SW |
Christison, D (1900) 'The forts, "camps", and other field-works of Perth, Forfar and Kincardine'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 34 (1899-1900), 43-120
Cotton, M A (1954) 'British camps with timber-laced ramparts'. Archaeol J 111 (1954), 26-105 (p 83-4)
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Macfarlane, W (1906-8) Geographical collections relating to Scotland, in Mitchell, A and Clark, J T 3v Edinburgh
Mackenzie, G (1857) 'Description of Barry Hill, near Alyth'. Archaeologia Scotica, 4 (1857), 184-6
NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy.
RCAHMS (1994) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. South-east Perth: an archaeological landscape. HMSO: Edinburgh
Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
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