Monument record MAB32623 - HURLY HAWKIN

Multi-period prehistoric site.

Hurly Hawkin is a small promontory, formed by cutting off a steep-sided narrow piece of land where two streams join. It is only easily approached from the north, and is now a well-kept lawn. It has been used successively as the location of a palisaded enclosure, a promontory fort, a broch, and a souterrain, all apparently of one phase each, although tree root damage hindered interpretation.

It is allegedly the site of the palace of King Alexander I 'near Invergowrie', according to the Old Statistical Account, which also records that persons unknown had dug at the site and found ashes and 'an iron spur, of the kind long ago worn'. The promontory is accordingly marked '(Site of) Supposed palace of Alexander I 12th century' on the OS maps until those of the late 20th century.

Jervise discovered that the forester of Lord Gray, the landowner, had found some bones and 'rings of iron and bronze' in another unrecorded investigation. Jervise himself excavated the site, looking for remains of the palace, over two days in March 1865. He exposed the broch, but only tentatively identified it as such, as no others were known at the time outside of Shetland. He excavated the entirety of the interior wall and dug two trenches across the floor at right angles to each other. An inserted burial was discovered, with a deposit of charcoal containing several fragile, bronze, cup-headed pins to its south and west. Jervise's investigation shows that the broch appears to have been re-used as a midden. He described a variety of animal remains (including large parts of the skeleton of a horse), burnt barley, a burnt wooden object, an unfinished whorl, pieces of metal, and further human remains. All were found in the broch interior, which Jervise described as 'turned over at a former period' and so he was unable to provide stratigraphical information. Jervise also noted the ditch to the north, which he considered artificial, and inaccurately sited the entrance to the broch in the northwest, when he had probably exposed a mural chamber. Gordon Childe interpreted the site as an outlier of the ring-fort tradition of central Perthshire.

The site was further excavated by D. B. Taylor between 1958-1967. This produced a sequence of occupation (based on structural evidence alone), a palisaded enclosure was the earliest usage of the site, followed by the promontory fort, itself followed by the broch which partially overlies it. The inner ditch of the fort was then infilled and the souterrain and its courtyard built from the stones of the broch. Finally, the souterrain entrance was blocked and the courtyard destroyed during a fifth occupation. The palisaded enclosure or timber stockade was discovered below the floor of the broch and its line continued underneath the broch wall to the west. Thirty-one postholes, 0.22 m in diameter, mostly in a curved line, and 0.24 m apart, were discovered, including one linking with a rectangular pit, interpreted as a stockade or palisade with a possible entrance. The close proximity of the postholes and the ground sloping away from them to the southeast made their identification as a hut extremely unlikely. No palisade trench was discovered. The relationship to the promontory fort is unclear, the excavator concluded that the palisade was earlier because its situation within the defences of the fort would make such a structure unnecessary.

The promontory fort, its existence suggested by R. B. K. Stevenson, was formed by a double set of massive banks and ditches. It was discovered under the northern sector of the broch wall where the outer face was 0.6 m higher than the inner face. Part of the bank was discovered to be 0.8 m deep below the wall. The inner ditch, later occupied by the souterrain, was 6.5 m wide and 2.5 m deep below ground level. The outer ditch was 5.1 m wide and 1.7 m deep below the ground level. The ditches possibly ran into each other at the western side. Several possible postholes were found in the interior, but with no recognisable pattern. The interior appeared to have been levelled by the builders of the broch.

Outside the broch, paving remains hints at a roadway around the broch to the entrance. The interior was roughly circular, measuring 12.48 m north-south by 12.6 m east-west. The remains of paving survived, especially in the northeast quadrant. Above this was a layer, up to 50 mm deep, of burnt material, possibly roofing material. Several postholes which the paving aligned with were discovered, interpreted as roofing supports, a range of buildings along the inner face of the wall, and an extension to the entrance passage. The remains of a kerbed hearth were discovered slightly off centre, and the remains of a possible water tank nearby were recorded nearby. The finds related to these structures are undiagnostic, a bone mount with three perforations, a bone needle, a rubbing stone, a spindle-whorl, a piece of hematite, and two pieces of charred wood, one with two drilled holes.

The broch was opened on all quadrants, apart from the southeast which is still covered by trees. The denuded walls were exposed, as well as a partially paved inner courtyard. The outer wall face had several foundation slabs and boulders, and holes for boulders now missing. The inner face was better preserved, surviving at foundation height except in the east and west where it was 1 m high. Little core material was found, apart from by the mural chamber in the east and a cup and ring marked slab, used as the entrance to a wall-chamber (shown as the entrance by Jervise) found between the faces at the northwest. This material could have been used in the construction of the souterrain, or a clay and rubble core, as at Crosskirk, Caithness.

The entrance was found at the southwest, represented by paving and lower courses of stones. A socket for a door was discovered by a sill stone at the entrance. The eastern mural chamber, in an area of 1 m high wall preservation, was 1.4 m wide. No steps remained, but this could have been the base of the stairway. One of the paving stones on the floor was the lower stone of a sandstone saddle-quern. The disturbed interior produced a bronze ring-headed pin, part of a bronze ribbed bracelet, a piece of bronze chain, part of a glass bangle, a bone toggle, a bronze snake armlet, a bronze harness mount and studs, bronze rings, a patera handle, various nails and rivets, and evidence of bronze and iron casting. Various tools, both of metal and bone, a lead wright, and other 'obscure' objects were also recovered. The floor of the broch yielded similar metal and glasswork: parts of a bronze pin, a harness-mount, a bracelet, a spiral ring, fragments of a pan, an iron nail and a lead weight, a glass bangle, a glass ball, a whetstone, a jet pinhead, and a bone tool. There were 50 stone discs of unknown purpose also recovered from the floor. The filling of the broch wall, post-dating the broch, contained fragments of human bone, two sherds of Samian ware and two sherds of native ware. The dating evidence ranges for the 1st-3rd Centuries AD, but was intermixed with a Late Bronze Age pin and Medieval and 17th Century pottery and glass, as well as modern glass.

The souterrain, of the 'Angus' type, built in the inner ditch of the promontory fort, was investigated by three trenches. It stood to a height of 1.5 m, was 2.2 m wide, was paved, and had corbelling and some displaced roof slabs. A soil layer indicated disuse before destruction or collapse. The floor was removed in the westernmost trench which revealed that the ditch of the fort had been infilled until the required width was reached, then the sides of the ditch were removed and foundation boulders and corbelling of the souterrain were constructed. The entrance was discovered at the west, by the north wall, narrowed by slabs at right angles to the walls to 0.84 m. The floor was paved and did not slope. The passage had been blocked by carefully laid horizontal slabs. A cup-marked boulder and a hearth were found at the entrance, with a paved courtyard and possible evidence of a hut. A platform, of unknown use and extent, to the west of the second ditch was partially uncovered, but the remainder was covered by trees. The third trench, to find the end of the souterrain, uncovered another cup-marked stone. The souterrain was circa 29.4 m long. There was no indication of a side entrance. Recovered from the floor of the souterrain were a bronze finger ring, part of an iron knife, a piece of iron, parts of a crucible for bronze casting, a whetstone, and a stone disc. The infill produced another bronze ring (similar to the one from the floor), a piece of bronze sheet, an iron nail fragment and a piece of native ware. Later finds included a bronze strap-end of Early Medieval date (9th Century) and some Medieval pottery, from the 14-15th Centuries, including part of an imported knight jug. The entrance to the souterrain produced a larger number of stone objects, five whetstones, pottery, whorls, and stone discs. The blocking produced further stone items, another whetstone, more discs, and an iron bar and piece of slag. Two sherds of pottery, one native, the other a counter made of Samian ware, were recovered from the blocking. The courtyard produced more native and Samian pottery (re-used as rubbers), iron nails, part of a sickle, several whetstones, and other stone tools, including more stone discs. A sherd of a Medieval jug and some modern glass were also discovered in the courtyard. The pottery is similar to that found at Ardestie and Carlungie, and probably dates to the 2nd Century AD.

RANKIN, D, 01/1999, FOWLIS EASTER: A DESK-BASED ASSESSMENT (Bibliographic reference). SAB1593.

DESK-BASED ASSESS

TAYLOR, D B, 1982, EXCAVATION OF A PROMONTORY FORT, BROCH AND SOUTERRAIN AT HURLY HAWKIN, ANGUS. IN PSAS 112 (1982) 215-253, PSAS 112, 215-253 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1989.

Record last edited

Sep 9 2026 8:10AM