Description

The monument is the remains of a fort dating probably to the Iron Age (from around 500 BC to 200 AD). It survives as a stone wall around 3-4m thick, built to exploit the contours of the rocky knoll of Denork Craig. These defences encompass an area of about 0.8ha, roughly oval in shape, measuring 130m NW-SE by 45m transversely. The grass-covered stone rampart is most visible on the N and NW sides where it is 3m wide and stands up to 1m high in places. The NE side has been mutilated by quarrying. An entranceway 7m wide is visible at the SE corner. The rampart appears to have been broken at the NW corner to form a further entrance, although the steps here are modern. The fort occupies the rocky knoll of Denork Craig at around 150m above OD, immediately N of Drumcarrow Craig, and commands spectacular views from N to E towards the Eden Estuary. The monument was first scheduled in 1964, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes all elements of the dam and reservoir, including sluices at the S and W boundary of the scheduled area.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the substantial, upstanding remains of an Iron Age fort and has considerable potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of Iron Age defensive and domestic settlement and economy in Fife. The monument is particularly notable for the surviving elements of stone ramparts built to exploit the contours of Denork Craig. These features are characteristic of Iron Age hillfort architecture in Scotland. There is considerable potential for the survival of the remains of structures and buried archaeological deposits within the fort. Its importance is enhanced by its high visibility within the landscape and its probable relationship with further Iron Age settlement features nearby, including a broch and unenclosed settlement at Drumcarrow Craig, some 600m to the S. Our understanding of the distribution and character of Iron Age forts and settlements would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO41SE 5.

Feachem, R 1963, A guide to prehistoric Scotland, London: Batsford, 125-6.

Maxwell, G S 1969, 'Excavations at Drumcarrow, Fife: an Iron Age unenclosed settlement', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 100, 100-8.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland