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Tap o' Noth

Aberdeenshire, Scotland ยท Atlas SC2938

Tap o' Noth is a contour fort and a multiple enclosure in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Other names on the record: Hill of Noth.

It is recorded as extant, with a bivallate rampart form, surface evidence of rubble and vitrification, and an enclosed area of 16.4 hectares.

Banks or ramparts are the remains most likely to be visible.

The topographic record places it on a hilltop and at 563 m.

The aspect is recorded as level.

Recorded land use includes pasture and heather moorland.

Dating evidence is recorded (Other).

A scheduled monument number is recorded (63).

Location

Atlas number
SC2938 (2938)
Country
Scotland
Current county or unitary authority
Aberdeenshire
Historic county
Aberdeenshire
Parish, community, or townland
Rhynie
National Grid reference
NJ 4845 2930
Latitude
57.35134
Longitude
-2.85831
Altitude
563 m

Form and condition

Type
contour fort and multiple enclosure
Condition
Extant
Morphology
bivallate
Complete rampart circuit
Yes
Number of ramparts
2
Possible original entrances
3
Breaks through the ramparts
10
Enclosed area
16.4 ha
Enclosure areas
0.26 ha, 16.4 ha
Enclosing works, as visible
rubble and vitrification
Enclosing works, excavated
stone wall and vitrification
Also recorded
multi-period enclosure system
Entrance forms
Simple Gap (East); Simple Gap (West); Simple Gap (North west)

Landscape

Topographic position
hilltop
Aspect
level
Land use
pasture and heather moorland
Water source
well or cistern

Dating

Dating
undated
Dating evidence
Other
Dating reliability
D - None

Interior and investigation

Interior surface
curvilinear platforms, other roundhouse evidence, and quarry hollows
Investigations
1st Identified Written Reference (1782); Other (1796); 1st Identified Map Depiction (1822); Other (1831); Other (1865); Excavation (1886); Earthwork Survey (1886); Other (1943); Other (1954); Other (1961); Other (1967); Other (1969); Other (1978); Other (

Identifiers

Scheduled monument number
63
HER
Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record NJ42NE0001
National record
record NJ 42 NE 1; monument 17169
Wikidata
Q31084492

Sources

References

  1. Cotton, M A (1954) 'British camps with timber-laced ramparts'. Archaeol J 111 (1954), 26-105 (p 82)
  2. Christison, D (1898) Early fortifications in Scotland: motes, camps and forts: the Rhind lectures in archaeology for 1894. Blackwood & Sons: Edinburgh (p 174-5)
  3. Douglas, F (1782) A general description of the east coast of Scotland from Edinburgh to Cullen... in a series of letters to a friend. Paisley
  4. Dunwell and Strachan, A and R (1997) 'Tap o' Noth (Rynie parish), enclosure; ?hut circles', Disc Exc Scot (1997), 11
  5. Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
  6. Feachem, R W (1966) 'The hill-forts of northern Britain'. In Rivet, A L F (ed) The iron age in northern Britain. Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh
  7. Halliday, S P (2007) The later prehistoric landscape. In RCAHMS (2007) In the Shadow of Bennachie: A Field Archaeology of Donside, Aberdeenshire. RCAHMS & Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: Edinburgh
  8. Hibbert, S (1857) 'Collections relative to vitrified sites'. Archaeologia Scotica 4 (1857), 181 _ 201
  9. Nisbet, H C (1974) 'A geological approach to vitrified forts, part I: the archaeological and scientific background'. Sci & Archaeol 12 (1974), 3-12
  10. Ralston and Watt, I and W (1981) 'Tap o' Noth (Rhynie p): hut platforms'. Disc Exc Scot (1981), 14
  11. Ralston and Watt, I and W (1982) 'Tap o' Noth (Rhynie p): platforms'. Disc Exc Scot (1982), 12
  12. Ralston and Watt, I and W (1983) 'Tap o' Noth (Rhynie p): platforms'. Disc Exc Scot (1983), 10
  13. Sanderson, Placido and Tate, D C W, F and J O (1988) 'Scottish vitrified forts: TL results from six study sites', Nuclear Tracks Radiation Measurements 14 (1988), 307-16
  14. Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99