Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO64NE0008 (None)
NMR: NO 64 NE 8 (35439)
SM: 5586
NGR: NO 6928 4600
X: 369280 Y: 746000 (OSGB36)
The remains of this small fortification are situated on the coastal cliffs SSE of West Mains of Ethie. First discovered during the RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands, and excavated by the Abertay Historical Society 1962-71 (Wilson 1980), its defences comprise three ramparts with external ditches, which bar access from the W to an irregular area measuring a maximum of 53m from E to W by 24m transversely (0.1ha). The defences are drawn in a shallow arc across the neck on the WNW, forming a belt about 33m deep, and are pierced by a central entrance. The description of what was found in the areas excavated is confusing, but showed that where best preserved the innermost rampart is about 2.4m in thickness, and is faced inside and out with large boulders. Evidence of timberwork was also found beneath it, however, comprising two parallel lengths of palisade trench, the inner rather slighter than the outer, and several post-holes; a penannular brooch was recovered from the bottom of the outer trench. For the most part the outer ramparts were little more than ridges of undisturbed clay separated by ditches between 2.4m and 3.6m in breadth and from 1.5m to 1.8m in depth. The entrance causeway had two layers of metalling, and a glass bead and a fragment of a blue glass bangle were recovered from between them. The entrance through the inner rampart was paved and there were also patches of paving and a scatter of pits and post-holes in the interior almost certainly representing several periods of construction; two hearths were found immediately behind the rampart. The post-holes cannot be resolved into any clear pattern, but a shallow depression 5m in diameter identified on the S on the RCAHMS survey seems to have been a clay-floored structure with an enclosing bank. Other finds from the excavations include two stone lamps, a decorated stone, an iron sickle, a fragment of crucible, a bronze fibula, a sherd of samian ware and several coarse stone tools and fragments of rotary querns. The glass bead, bangle, the sherd of smaian and the fibula and brooch all date from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -278521 Y: 7679795 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.5019974023886697 Latitude: 56.604931078757794 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Angus
Historic County: Angus
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Inverkeilor
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
The glass bead, bangle, the sherd of smaian and the fibula and brooch all date from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, at least two of the objects coming from what must be relatively early contexts in the complex and confused stratigraphy.
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 |
| Artefactual: | None |
Aerial photographs by John Dewar are held by RCAHMS
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1957): | Plan and description for RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1958): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1961): | Visited (Wilson and Wilson 1961) |
| Excavation (1962): | Wilson and Wilson 1962; Wilson 1980 |
| Excavation (1963): | Wilson 1963; 1980 |
| Excavation (1964): | Wilson 1964; 1980 |
| Excavation (1965): | Wilson 1965; 1980 |
| Excavation (1966): | Wilson 1966; 1980 |
| Excavation (1967): | Wilson 1967; 1980 |
| Excavation (1968): | Wilson 1968; 1980 |
| Excavation (1969): | Wilson 1969; 1980 |
| Excavation (1970): | Wilson 1970; 1980 |
| Excavation (1971): | Wilson 1971; 1980 |
| Other (1978): | Visited by RCAHMS |
| Other (1993): | Scheduled |
Excavations revealed evidence of structures and occupation
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 | ✗ |
Paving hearths and elements of what were probably structures
| 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
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (West): | None |
Three ramparts and ditches, innermost overlying a palisade
| Area 1: | 0.1ha. |
| Total: | 0.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.3ha.
None
| ✓ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 3
| ✗ | None |
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1963) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor'. Disc Exc Scot (1963), 4
Wilson, EM (Mrs J) (1964) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor'. Disc Exc Scot (1964), 2-3.
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1965) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1965), 4
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1966) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1966), 3
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1967) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1967), 4
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1968) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1968), 1-2
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1969) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1969), 1
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1970) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1970), 3-4
Wilson, E M (Mrs J) (1971) 'Inverkeilor: West Mains of Ethie: promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1971), 2
Wilson, E M (1981) 'Excavations at West Mains of Ethie, Angus'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 110 (1978-80), 114-21
Wilson, J & E M (1961) 'West Mains of Ethie and Redhead'. Disc Exc Scot (1961), 3
Wilson, J & E M (1962) 'West Mains of Ethie, Inverkeilor'. Disc Exc Scot (1962), 2-3
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