Featured: Friendly specialist tours to ancient, mystical and historical sites in the UK and beyond

Friendly specialist tours to ancient, mystical and historical sites in the UK and beyond

Random Image


Ramat Yotam 'roded' type site

Sacred Stones in Indian Civilization: with Special Reference to Megaliths

Sacred Stones in Indian Civilization: with Special Reference to Megaliths

Who's Online

There are currently, 290 guests and 2 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

More Choices

Contribute to our running costs
Webrings
News Feeds
Megalithic Mysteries
Our Online Shop

<< Our Photo Pages >> Dunnideer Fort - Vitrified Fort in Scotland in Aberdeenshire

Submitted by vicky on Monday, 26 August 2002  Page Views: 20741

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Dunnideer Fort
Country: Scotland County: Aberdeenshire Type: Vitrified Fort

Map Ref: NJ613282  Landranger Map Number: 37
Latitude: 57.342659N  Longitude: 2.644613W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 4

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

SolarMegalith visited on 18th Feb 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

megalithicmatt visited on 1st Nov 2011 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 3 Used to live in Insch so I could see the hill every day! Great walk up to the top and I like looking out for the old post hole in the vitrified wall on the north side.

HaggisAction have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 5 Access: 3.5

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by cosmic : Dunnideer from South (Vote or comment on this photo)
Vitrified hillfort in Aberdeenshire, and weather-beaten rectangular tower, partly built from the remains of the prehistoric vitrified fort in which it stands.

Possibly the earliest tower-house on the Scottish mainland, its masonry is close-packed and striated; it is gathered to a rough course every 6ft or so in a manner seen at other early castles such as that other Balliol property, Red Castle, Angus, or at Boharm, Moray (qv). Single great shattered lancet of the first-floor great hall pierces the west gable.

Source: "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd

More at Canmore
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by krautrock : View from Archaeolink Park. (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by Roselyne : Dunnydeer - remains of ancient fort dating back to Pictish times. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by megalithicmatt : Seen on the northwest side on the walk up to the stone circle. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by krautrock : Dunnideer Fort, view from northwest. June 2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by krautrock : Dunnideer Fort, view from Stonehead RSC. June 2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by cosmic : Line of inner most rampart with 13th Century fort behind.

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by Antonine : At the top, 2015

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by SolarMegalith : Rampart and ditch in the western part of the Dunnideer hillfort (photo taken on February 2018).

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by SolarMegalith : An excellent example of vitrification in the southern part of the hillfort (photo taken on February 2018).

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by SolarMegalith : Rampart in the western part of the Iron Age vitrified fort (photo taken on February 2018).

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by SolarMegalith : Dunnideer Hill seen from the Picardy symbol stone (photo taken on February 2018).

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by SolarMegalith : The summit of Dunnideer seen from the NE (photo taken on February 2018).

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by Roselyne : Dunnydeer - ancient hill of three fortresses with Tap O Noth fortress in the distance.

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by cosmic : Close up of vitrified (molten) stone

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by cosmic : Part of the vitrified wall

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by cosmic : There are five hut circles on the South side cut into the hill. I think this is one of them with the outmost rampart.

Dunnideer Fort
Dunnideer Fort submitted by cosmic : Viewed from Christ's Kirk

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 500m WNW 298° Dunnideer Circle* Stone Circle (NJ60862844)
 1.1km SE 146° Wantonwells* Stone Circle (NJ619273)
 1.3km WNW 292° Stonehead* Stone Circle (NJ601287)
 1.4km SW 235° Hill of Christ's Kirk* Hillfort (NJ60182742)
 1.5km NE 42° Inschfield* Stone Circle (NJ623293)
 2.1km N 351° Picardy Stone* Class I Pictish Symbol Stone (NJ60993026)
 2.2km NW 321° Candle Hill* Stone Circle (NJ59912997)
 3.1km SSE 150° Westside Stone Circle Stone Circle (NJ62832552)
 3.1km SE 140° Broomend Stone Circle Stone Circle (NJ63302579)
 3.4km SW 217° Braehead Circle* Stone Circle (NJ592255)
 3.9km SE 145° Newton Stone Circle Stone Circle (NJ63512503)
 4.1km SSW 192° Loanend* Stone Circle (NJ604242)
 4.2km NNE 24° Colpy Stone Circle (NJ630320)
 4.3km ENE 79° South Lediken* Cairn (NJ655290)
 4.5km SW 228° Johnston, The Ringing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NJ57902517)
 4.7km NE 35° Culsalmond Stone Circle (NJ640320)
 4.8km SSW 208° Leslie Stone Circle (NJ590240)
 4.9km ESE 107° Hatton Of Ardoyne* Stone Circle (NJ65982676)
 5.0km WNW 294° Wardhouse Ancient Village or Settlement (NJ567303)
 5.2km SE 135° Tillymuick Ancient Village or Settlement (NJ649245)
 5.2km ENE 72° Newton House* Class I Pictish Symbol Stone (NJ6623929732)
 5.4km ESE 109° Westerton of Petmathen* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NJ664264)
 5.8km W 266° Ardlair (Pictish Stone)* Class I Pictish Symbol Stone (NJ55472784)
 6.0km S 177° Druidstone (Brackla)* Stone Circle (NJ6152922206)
 6.0km W 267° Ardlair (Circle)* Stone Circle (NJ55272794)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Buckspool Down Camp

Bosley Cloud (1) >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Contribute!

· NEW: I have visited
· I would like to visit
· Submit an Image
· Add a description
· Give accurate position
· Add a comment or news about this site

Great Crowns of Stone: The Recumbent Stone Circles of Scotland

Great Crowns of Stone: The Recumbent Stone Circles of Scotland

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Dunnideer Fort" | Login/Create an Account | 7 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: Dunnideer Fort by Anonymous on Thursday, 05 February 2015
Hello All

The three conical hills,of which Dunnideer is one are a very distinctive part of the landscape here. There is a planning application for a 67meter high wind turbine close to the top of Flinder Hill, which is the westernmost one of the three.



The turbine housing would be higher than Flinder Hill itself and the total height would be higher than Dunnideer too. Any views towards Tap o Noth would be dominated by this.



If you, like I and many others feel this is an intrusion on a special landscape then you can make your comments known on the aberdeenshire planning website, the reference is APP/2015/1060

Closing date for comments is 25th Feb 2015



Thanks
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Dunnideer Fort by Anonymous on Friday, 25 November 2011
Research excavations on the site by Murray Cook of Rampart Scotland revealed that the prehistoric fort was destroyed by fire around 250 BC. As indicated above the process was so intense that the stones melted and fused together. Vitrification is a deliberate process and would have taken central planning, a large labour force and days if not weeks to achieve. Vitrified forts are known across Europe but Scotland, where they were first discovered still has a greater concentration that anywhere else!

If you're interested in digging Celtic hillforts join us
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Dunnideer Fort by golux on Tuesday, 29 November 2011
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    This is a puzzler! You say excavations revealed "the prehistoric fort was destroyed by fire"; does this refer to the vitrified fort or to some other structure on the site? If it is the former then I have to ask, "how can a vitrified fort be destroyed by fire?" By definition, a vitrified fort is one which has already been burnt down!
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: Dunnideer Fort by Andy B on Tuesday, 29 November 2011
      (User Info | Send a Message)
      I think the suggestion is that the vitrification was caused by the burning down of the fort, with extra wood added to intensify the heat
      [ Reply to This ]
        Re: Dunnideer Fort by golux on Tuesday, 29 November 2011
        (User Info | Send a Message)
        That's what I thought is meant but I don't see why this is described as "destroying" the fort, - this is actually building a vitrified fort.
        [ Reply to This ]

Re: Dunnideer by Aluta on Saturday, 04 December 2010
(User Info | Send a Message)
This site was shown during a discussion of Scottish vitrified forts on the show Ancient Aliens last evening. They said the forts were vitrified by alien death rays! :-D
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Dunnideer by taexalia on Wednesday, 15 January 2003
(User Info | Send a Message)
This site is on the web at:

http://www.geocities.com/purpledaisywolf/dunnideer.html
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>
We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.