Scotland's hidden hill forts revealed in online catalogue

They are ancient gathering places, used for trading, social gatherings, and to perhaps fend off the advances of unwelcome interlopers.
Castlelaw hill fort in Midlothian. Details of all hill forts found across the UK have been mapped in an online database for the first time. Picture: Kieran Baxter/Arts and Humanities Research Council/PA WireCastlelaw hill fort in Midlothian. Details of all hill forts found across the UK have been mapped in an online database for the first time. Picture: Kieran Baxter/Arts and Humanities Research Council/PA Wire
Castlelaw hill fort in Midlothian. Details of all hill forts found across the UK have been mapped in an online database for the first time. Picture: Kieran Baxter/Arts and Humanities Research Council/PA Wire

Now, a unique catalogue of Scotland’s hill forts has been compiled online for the first time by academics.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified thousands of ancient sites scattered across the country, expressing hope that will spark the interest of tourists at home and abroad.

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Out of the 4,147 forts mapped across the entire UK, nearly 40 per cent are found in Scotland, with some 408 of the forts north of the border located in the Scottish Borders.

The team of researchers, with the help of citizen scientists, has spent five years sifting and recording information on all the hill forts across Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man.

From well-preserved forts to places where only crop marks and remnants hint at where structures once stood, the locations have been collated onto a new website.

Professor Ian Ralston from the University of Edinburgh, who co-led the project, said: “Standing on a windswept hill fort with dramatic views across the countryside, you really feel like you’re fully immersed in history.

“This research project is all about sharing the stories of the thousands of hill forts across Britain and Ireland in one place that is accessible to the public and researchers.”

Professor Gary Lock from the University of Oxford added: “We hope it will encourage people to visit some incredible hill forts that they may never have known were right under their feet.”

Hill forts were mostly built during the Iron Age, with the oldest dating to around 1000 BC.

Despite the name, not all hill forts are on hills, and not all are forts, the experts said.

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Excavations show many were used predominantly as regional gathering spots for festivals and trade, and some are on low-lying land. The research team from the University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford and University College Cork were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to gather information from so-called citizen scientists on hill forts.