Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood

The nature of the earthwork is uncertain. It may be a defensive feature or domestic/agricultural

Also known as:
Dounie Hillfort
Nearest town:
Tain (11km E)
OS reference:
NH68468677
OS sheet:
21
Latitude:
57° 51' 4.48 N
Longitude:
4° 12' 59.92 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

Southern flank. Not sure how I managed to take this, to be honest.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

Southern flank, looking east. Needless to say one wouldn’t expect to find artificial defences here. Utterly impregnable.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

Looking very roughly east toward Dornoch Firth. The community around here is known as Edderton, the name apparently derived from the Gaelic “Eadar Dun”... ‘between the forts’.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

Toward Struie Hill, the summit swathed in mist...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

Looking approx south... note the substantial slabs of stone used here. Whatever the builders wanted to keep out – human or herbivore – they were serious.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

And looking approx southward. I have to admit – to the perception of a relative layman – the feature looked substantial enough to be defensive in character.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
Image of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by GLADMAN

The dry stone wall, bank and ditch isolating the promontory to the west, looking approx north... depending on your point of view this represents the defences of a simple hill fort (Historic Scotland – Scheduled Monument 11942 ) or a ‘stock control boundary’ RCAHMS (JRS, GFG, IP, AM) 17/9/2013

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016

Articles

Link

Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood
Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 20, 2016
What to see and do in Edderton

Local community information website including Historic Scotland description of Dounie Hillfort, (Scheduled Monument 11942) which can be reached by a waymarked walk from the A836.

Note that RCAHMS do not share the view that the masonry to be found here was defensive in nature... “The location and character of both the wall and the bank-and-ditch suggest that they were used for the control of stock.” (JRS, GFG, IP, AM) 17/9/2013.

My suggestion is for people to climb the hill, enjoy the fabulous views across Dornoch Firth... and make up their own minds. I share some reservations owing to the paucity of visible defences to the east, but on balance, I would say the western dry stone wall and associated bank and ditch are arguably too substantial for mere stock control?

[edited to update URL]

Topics

Hi Eds - Can we mark this with a question mark? 3
GLADMAN
GLADMAN
Jun 2016

Sites within 20km of Creag An Fhithich, Dounie Wood

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