Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron AgeAnderson, Joseph
History
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age
Anderson, Joseph
Scotland -- Antiquities
The Hill-Forts which are constructed of stone sometimes consist of a
single wall drawn round the brow of a hill, and enclosing the more or
less level area which forms its summit. One of this description at
Garrywhoine, in Caithness, is an oval enclosure about 200 paces long by
65 in breadth. The foundation of the wall is about 14 feet thick, and in
some places 3 or 4 feet of its height remains. In the thickness of the
wall on the east side the remains of two chambers are visible. There
were two entrances to the area of the fort, one at the north end and the
other at the south end of the hill. The entrance at the north end has
three of the great corner-stones of the gateway still in position. They
are single stones or flat boulders about 5 feet high, set on end, having
their broad faces in line with the exterior and interior faces of the
wall, and the ends in the line of the entrance which is 7 feet wide.
Only one of the stones similarly placed remains at the south entrance.
The dilapidation of this remarkable example of a stone cashel was due to
the construction of a mill-dam in the valley below, the stones having
been rolled down the hill to form the embankment. I notice it because it
is the only Hill-Fort I have seen which still retains the stone-pillars
of its gateway, and because the story of its demolition illustrates the
fate of many of the most perfect and interesting remains of our
country’s antiquity.
A more complex variety consists of two, three, or more walls drawn
concentrically round the upper part of a conical hill, at short
distances apart, as in the case of the example known as the White
Caterthun in the parish of Menmuir, Forfarshire. The area enclosed is a
long oval about 450 by 200 feet. The enclosing wall has been of enormous
size. Its remains have spread themselves over a width in some places of
nearly 100 feet, and they now form a somewhat rounded embankment of from
4 to 6 feet high, encompassing the summit of the hill. About 150 feet
lower down on the slope of the hill is another wall, equally ruined, and
below it are the remains of a third. Beyond this there is an enclosure
of an oblong form and of less massive construction, abutting against one
side of the outer wall of the fort.[99] A fort of smaller size, but
presenting somewhat similar features of construction, crowns the spur of
Ben Ledi which overlooks the ford at Coilantogle, a little below the
outlet of Loch Vennachar. The hill is precipitous on one side, and the
walls do not encircle it completely, but the external faces of three
encircling walls are in some places visible for a considerable distance
round the less precipitous part of the hill. Abutting on the outer wall,
on the side which is most accessible, is an oval enclosure less
massively constructed, as at Caterthun.
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Footnote 99:
Such constructions are frequently found in similar juxtaposition to
the walls of these forts, and rightly or wrongly they have been
regarded as cattle-folds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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