Part 22

There is one fort in Scotland, at Burghead, in Morayshire, which presents the peculiar feature of being partially constructed of logs of oak alternating with layers of stones. The peculiarity of its dry-built stone rampart is thus described by Dr. Macdonald:—“To strengthen it, beams of solid oak (still measuring from 6 to 12 feet in length) take here and there the place of stones, and similar beams inserted end-ways pass into the mass behind.”[104] We only know the Vitrified Forts from their greatly dilapidated ruins, and it is a legitimate object of investigation whether any of them may yet present evidence of having been constructed with logs and stones in the manner exemplified at Burghead. This method of construction is characteristic of the Celtic or Gaulish forts of France. The rampart of Murcens, on the river Lot is constructed like that of Burghead, of unhewn and uncemented stones. In its mass, at regular intervals, there have been laid courses of oak logs disposed longitudinally and transversely as “binders” and “headers.” The spaces between the logs are filled with stones, and where they cross each other the transverse logs are fastened to the longitudinal rows by massive iron nails. There are two rows of logs laid parallel to the face of the wall and a little apart within its thickness, and these are crossed at every 3 or 4 feet by logs lying transversely and extending the whole thickness of the wall, so that their opposite ends appear in its exterior and interior faces. This is repeated at every 3 or 4 feet of the height of the wall. The same method of construction, with a greater proportion of timber to the mass of the wall, appears in the fort of Impernal, also on the river Lot.[105] It is obvious that by the application of fire to ramparts constructed on this principle, a partially scorified and partially vitrified appearance would be given to their ruins.[106] In the early annals the burning of fortified places appears as the common method of reducing them, and the legendary prophecy of the coming of Birnam Wood to Dunsinnane possessed a peculiarly fateful meaning if its walls were built not of stones alone but of stones and logs.

Footnote 104:

_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. iv. p. 350. A section and elevation of the rampart showing the oak-beams in position are given in Plate IX. of the same volume.

Footnote 105:

Memoire sur les ouvrages de fortification des Oppidum Gaulois de Murcens, d’Uxellodunum et d’Impernal situes dans le department du Lot. _Congrès Archeologique de France_, xli. session. Paris, 1875, p. 427.

Footnote 106:

The late Mr. Ramsay, Director of the Geological Survey, records a circumstance which has an obvious bearing on the question of the possibility of such vitrifaction. Near Barnsley, in Yorkshire, the country affords no good material for road-metal the sandstones made from the debris of granitic gneiss pounding up rapidly under cart-wheels. "To obviate this defect the following process is adopted:—The stone being quarried in small slabs and fragments is built in a pile about 30 feet square and 12 or 14 feet high, somewhat loosely; and while the building is in progress brushwood is mingled with the stones, but not in any great quantity. Two thin layers of coal about 3 inches thick, at equal distances, are interstratified with the sandstones, and a third layer is strewn over the top. At the bottom, facing the prevalent wind, an opening about 2 feet high is left, something like the mouth of an oven. Into this brushwood and a little coal is put and lighted. The fire slowly spreads through the whole pile and continues burning for about six weeks. After cooling, the stack is pulled down, and the stones are found to be vitrified. I examined them carefully. Slabs originally flat had become bent and contorted, and stones originally separate glazed together in the process of vitrifaction."—_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. viii. p. 150.

The Hill-Fort of Dunsinnane (a section of which is shown in Fig. 251) is an oval circumvallation crowning the summit of a conical hill, some 800 feet in height. The rampart is now chiefly composed of earth intermixed with boulders, and is in some places about 20 feet wide at the base, rising to a height of from 6 to 8 feet. Fragments of vitrified matter, cementing masses of small stones together, are found in the rampart. The space enclosed is about 150 yards long by 70 yards wide and almost level. Towards its south-east side were two underground chambers 20 feet in length, from 6 to 8 feet in width, and 5 to 6 feet high. The chambers communicated with each other, near their extremities, by two passages low and narrow, not much exceeding 2 feet in width and 3 feet high. The floors of the chambers were paved with rough slabs. The walls were built with undressed stones, which at the height of 2 to 3 feet above the floor began to converge until the roof was spanned by flagstones laid across. The floors were covered with ashes and refuse, consisting chiefly of the bones of horses and cattle, and horns of deer. A quern was found by the side of one of the passages, and in another were parts of three human skeletons. Near the entrance to the circumvallation a bronze spiral finger-ring, described as of exquisite workmanship and formed like a serpent, was found.[107]

Footnote 107:

_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. ii. p. 95, and vol. ix. p. 379.

Dunsinnane is the only Scottish hill-fort associated with underground chambers. But there is a class of underground structures of peculiar form which is common in Scotland, though unconnected with any variety of defensive structure. They are mostly situated in arable land now under cultivation, and have usually been discovered by the plough coming in contact with the stones of the roof.

One was so discovered at Broomhouse in the parish of Edrom, Berwickshire. It had been known before and most of the roofing stones removed, but on this occasion it came under the observation of Mr. Milne-Home, who communicated an account of it to the Society of Antiquaries.[108] It is to such casual circumstances that we owe the materials of our science. The structure presents the form (shown in the ground plan, Fig. 252) of a long narrow gallery, entering by a low and narrow aperture nearly on a level with the surface, widening and deepening from the entrance inwards, turning first sharply to the left and then to the right, and terminating in a closed and rounded end. The opening (A) faced nearly to the south-east. The whole length of the gallery, measured along the central line of the floor, was 30 feet, its width at the entrance 2 feet, and at the widest part 6 feet. Only three of the roofing stones (B,C,D) remained in position. The vertical height of the walls at the widest part of the structure was 5 feet, and under the roofing stone (B) next the entrance only 3 feet. It seemed as if the floor had been paved with natural water-worn stones, but this point was not clearly ascertained. At the second bend (D) there are checks for a door, consisting of two oblong stones set on end and still carrying a massive lintel. The side walls, from the entrance inwards to this inner door, are vertical. In the wider part of the structure (E) beyond the inner door they are brought towards each other by the stones overlapping inwardly, so that the roof might be covered by single slabs laid across. Nothing was found within it but fragments of bones of animals, among which the roe-deer was the only one that could be certainly determined.

Footnote 108:

_Ibid._, vol. viii. p. 20.

At Migvie, in Aberdeenshire, an underground structure (Fig. 253) was discovered in 1862.[109] It was situated in the summit of a gravel hillock, and was in form a long, low, and narrow gallery, entering by an aperture nearly on the level of the original surface, turning first sharply to the left and then to the right, widening and deepening from the entrance inwards and terminating in a squarish end slightly rounded at the corners. The whole length of the gallery measured along the curvature was 41 feet, the width at the entrance 2 feet, and at the widest part about 5 feet. Nine stones covering the portion next the entrance remained in position, the height of the gallery under them increasing from about 2½ feet at the aperture to 4½ feet at the place where the covering ceased. The vertical height of the walls beyond this seemed to have been at least 5 feet. The side-walls were built with rough boulder stones laid pretty regularly. When the interior was cleared out the only objects found were a bronze ring, several rude stone-vessels like roughly-formed cups, large quantities of ashes and charred wood, and corroded fragments of iron implements.

Footnote 109:

_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. v. p. 304.

The similarity of these two structures is no less striking than the excessive peculiarity of their distinctive features. These features are—(1) their position under ground; (2) the contracted entrance; (3) the form of the chamber—a long, low, narrow, and curved gallery gradually widening inwards; and (4) the construction of the chamber—with convergent side-walls supporting a heavily-lintelled roof.

Closely analogous to these in its main features is the underground structure (Fig. 254) at Buchaam, in Strathdon.[110] It is along narrow gallery entering by a small aperture in the narrow end nearly on a level with the original surface of the ground, gradually widening and increasing in height inwards, and terminating abruptly in a slightly-rounded end. It differs in one respect from the two previously described, inasmuch as though it is curved it has not the double curvature which is the special feature of their form. It curves sharply to the left, but the curvature is not repeated in the opposite direction. It is 58 feet in length following the curve along the middle line of the floor. Its width at the entrance is 3 feet 6 inches, and it gradually widens until it attains a maximum breadth of 9 feet 3 inches. The height increases from about 5 feet near the entrance to about 7 feet at the farther end. The roofing stones were mostly in position and were of great size, some being 7 to 8 feet in length, 3 feet in width, 18 inches in thickness, and weighing more than a ton. The walls rise perpendicularly for 2 or 3 feet and then incline inwards with a curve, so that where the width of the chamber at the floor is 9 feet 3 inches, it is contracted to 7 feet 9 inches at 4 feet above the floor and at the roof to 5 feet. The walls are well built, the lower courses of large cubical stones, undressed, and at the distance of about 12 feet inwards from the entrance there are checks for a door formed of two oblong stones set edgeways in the wall and projecting a few inches from its interior surface. The whole floor of the chamber was paved, and a drain, 10 inches square, well built with a good roof, sides, and bottom, and having a peculiar box-like opening or sink in the inside of the chamber, was found leading from its south-east corner. The chamber when opened was nearly filled with earth and rubbish, and at the bottom there was a layer of fine blue clay 20 inches in depth, which had been carried through the walls by percolation of water from the clay bank outside. In or below this clay which covered the paved floor were found the following relics of human occupation—an iron ring, and an object in iron which looked like the shoe of a wooden spade, some staves of a small wooden cog, a wooden comb, some fragments of pottery of coarse workmanship, a portion of a quern or handmill for grinding grain, fragments of deer’s horns, and bones of the sheep and common domestic fowls. At one corner of the inner end of the chamber the ashes of a fire remained, and immediately above them there was a well-built smoke-hole.

Footnote 110:

Described by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. iv. p. 436.

A similar structure (Fig. 255) at Culsh, in the parish of Tarland in the same county, differs from this one only in being curved to the right instead of to the left. It is 47 feet in length and 2 feet wide at the entrance, the width increasing gradually to about 6 feet at the farther end. The walls are partially formed of large boulders set on end or on edge to form the lower course, with rudely-built masonry over them. They converge but slightly, and the roof is formed in the usual manner by large heavy slabs laid across from wall to wall. The floor is formed of the natural underlying rock, and the height from floor to roof increases from 5 feet near the entrance to an average of about 6 feet farther in. When cleared out in 1853, the earth which filled the chamber was found largely mixed with ashes on the floor, and the only relics obtained from its excavation were fragments of coarse unglazed pottery, a large bead, the bones of cattle, and two querns.

Another (Fig. 256) excavated a few years ago at Clova, near Kildrummy, also in Aberdeenshire,[111] differs from these in being so slightly curved to the left as to be almost straight. It measures 57 feet in length, 2½ feet wide at the entrance, suddenly widening to about 8 feet at about 20 feet within the entrance. At a short distance from the entrance there were checks for two doors about 8 feet apart. The covering stones had been removed from the first 15 feet of the narrow part, but the roof remained entire over the whole of the wider part of the structure, at an average height of about 6 feet from the floor. The earth with which the chamber was filled was largely mixed with charcoal and bones of animals, among which those of the horse and dog were recognised. No manufactured relics were found, but two of the stones in the walls, one being a large boulder, were covered with the small hemispherical pits known as cup-markings.

Footnote 111:

_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. xii. p. 356.

An Earth-house at Eriboll, in Sutherlandshire[112] (Fig. 257), resembles that at Clova in presenting so little curvature as to be almost straight. The curvature which it has is to the left, and only extends for a few feet within the entrance. It is said, however, to have been 10 or 12 feet longer than it was when examined in 1865. It was then 33 feet in length. It is peculiar for the smallness of its size, being nowhere more than 4½ feet in height, and for the greater part of its length only 2 feet wide, expanding to 3½ for about 3 feet only from the inner end. In view of this feature of its character, Dr Mitchell remarks that it is exceedingly difficult to see what purpose such a structure could have served; but he adds that it is worthy of note that in this district similar underground constructions are not rare, and that they are called by a Gaelic name which signifies Hiding-beds. The use of such underground places of concealment is referred to in the _Saga of Gisli the Soursop_, which relates to events occurring between the years 930 and 980, and was written in Iceland about the beginning of the twelfth century. It states that when Gisli was outlawed and every man’s hand was against him, he went to Thorgerda in Vadil “She was often wont to harbour outlaws, and she had an underground room. One end of it opened on the river-bank and the other below her hall.” Again it states that “Gisli was always in his earth-house when strangers came to the isle.”[113] The form of Earth-house thus described as then in use for concealment in Iceland is not the form of the Earth-houses found in Scotland, which have rarely two openings, but the passage is interesting because it shows that the traditional use ascribed to the Scottish examples is a use which was practised among a people who had close relations with the district in which the tradition still remains attached to these structures.

Footnote 112:

Described by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. vi. p. 249.

Footnote 113:

_The Saga of Gisli the Outlaw_, Dasent’s Translation, p. 72.

But whatever may have been the actual purpose or purposes to which they were applied, the fact which is of importance in our investigation is that these Earth-houses, though ranging in area from Berwickshire to the north coast of Sutherland, are all of one special character, long, low, narrow galleries, always possessing a certain amount of curvature, sometimes greatly, and at other times doubly curved, always widening and increasing in height from the low and narrow entrance inwards, usually built with convergent walls and roofed with heavy lintels, which are always lower than the surrounding level of the ground, so that the whole structure is subterranean. Occasionally they present variations in structure as in the case of one at Murroes, in Forfarshire, which, instead of being built, has its walls constructed entirely of flagstones set on edge. Similarly, the example at Kinord, in Aberdeenshire (Fig. 258), has its walls constructed of single boulders set on edge or on end, and it presents the further peculiarity of the chamber being divided into two branches at the farther end. One at Pirnie, in the parish of Wemyss, in Fife, and another at Elie, had steps leading down to the entrance.

Occasionally they occur in considerable groups, as at Airlie, in Forfarshire, where there is a group of five. One of these is of great size, its length being 67 feet, and its average breadth, from the farther end to within about 12 feet of the entrance, 7½ feet. The height at the entrance is only about 22 inches, and the floor slopes down for about 20 feet till a height of about 6 feet is obtained. The walls are built of rough undressed boulders laid in pretty regular courses, and they converge from a width on the floor of a little over 7 feet to about 4 feet at the roof. The covering stones are of great size, many of them 7 or 8 feet in length and 4 feet wide. It contained the usual traces of cookery in the accumulation of ashes and bones of animals upon the floor. The only other relics found in it were a brass pin, a stone mortar-like vessel, and fragments of querns. The other four examples in the same neighbourhood are known to have existed, but have neither been measured nor described.

A still more remarkable group was brought under the notice of the Society in 1816 by Professor Stuart of Aberdeen. They are spread over a space of a mile or two in diameter on what was then a dry moor in the parishes of Auchindoir and Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire. These excavated houses, he says, are most frequently discovered by the plough striking against some of the large stones which form the roof. The only opening to them appears to have been between two large stones placed in a sloping direction at one end, and about 18 inches asunder. Through this narrow opening one must slide down to the depth of 5 or 6 feet, when he comes to a vault generally about 6 feet high, upwards of 30 feet long, and 8 or 9 feet wide. The floor is smooth, as if of clay, and the sides are built of rude undressed stones without cement. The walls bend inwards to form a rude arch, and the roof is covered with large stones 5 or 6 feet long, some of them being over a ton in weight. The whole structure is beneath the level of the ground and quite invisible, but many of them were detected by the existence close to them of a square space about 10 to 15 paces each way dug a foot or two deep with the earth thrown outwards. These he conjectures to have been the sites of the summer huts of the people, who retreated to these underground places in winter, and stored their provisions and concealed their valuables in them all the year round. But he adds that no article of furniture, and no utensils or instruments either of stone or metal have been found in them so far as can be learned, but only a quantity of wood-ashes and charcoal, chiefly at the farther end, where there sometimes appears a small aperture at the top as an outlet for the smoke. The whole number discovered in this locality he estimates at between forty and fifty. They are found, he says, in other localities, but so great a number collected in one place has probably never before occurred. The number is certainly very large, and may probably be over estimated, but it would not be difficult to find in other parts of Scotland, and specially in Aberdeenshire, a series of groups of similar structures which, though not so numerous or so closely aggregated, are so distributed over wide districts as to show that the custom of constructing these underground edifices was general and prevalent. Wherever they occur they present the same individuality of character and the same strongly marked typical features. Their range in area extends from Berwickshire to Shetland. They occur in greater or less abundance in most of the counties bordering on the east coast. A few doubtful examples only are recorded in those bordering on the west coast. But it is only of late years that the importance of securing a permanent and exhaustive record of such casual discoveries has begun to be recognised, and in this direction of defining the areas of the respective types of structural antiquities, we are still groping in darkness on the threshold of a great investigation.

I now proceed to notice a few examples which, by their associations or their contents, disclose indications of the period of the type.