| Details |
Remains of a hill fort. It is an unusual, stone-walled, fort. About 30 m below the summit the main wall, circa 7 m wide and up to 1.7 m high, encloses a central area with the stone walls linking individual granite outcrops. The entrance to the northeast is well-preserved, as is the main wall around the site. There is a parapet wall still visible on the rampart next to the entrance. To the northwest of the main entrance, close to the inner wall face, are two level platforms which may have been hut stances. The main entrance passage is 16m long by 3 m wide with the remains of a door jamb at the inner end of the main entrance which appears to have been paved. A hornwork covers the entrance with a track leading from the fort downhill, called the 'Maiden Causeway'. A cistern is set against the south arc of the main wall. Another possible entrance can be made out at the west side. An inner wall is represented by tumble and scree around the main tor. Excavations in the 1870s revealed up to 10 house foundations, though most of these were built at a different time from the fort. In 2007 two radiocarbon dates were recovered during a watching-brief on path work that was being carried out to create a stable route through the fort. The works were part of a wider project to upgrade the existing routes across the Bennachie plateau to prevent further erosion of the fragile moorland environment. The two charcoal samples from the site place the date of the fort in the first millennium AD rather than the first millennium BC. Excavation carried out by University of Aberdeen in June 2019 identified buildings and platforms within the fort and uncovered steps leading down to the well which was first recorded in the 1800s. Every trench identified occupation deposits/evidence of activity. Radiocarbon dating samples from the lower wall core gave a date of 613-674 AD, and from the lower citadel midden dates of 668-858 AD. Various examples of 19th century graffiti have been recorded on the granite outcrops, including the marks of the Commonty which indicate the local estates that meet at the summit and recording the division of the Commonty in 1859.
|
Historic Environment Records (HER)