Scots Roots

The hillfort of Knock Farril was the seat of an Iron Age chieftain or a Pictish king. It’s remains can be found on the summit of Knockfarrel hill near Dingwall to the north of Inverness.

The summit is a wide grassy square surrounded by ditches and strange looking rocks with an almost glass-like appearance – the result of vitrification, a process whereby dry stone walls were subjected to intense heat which fused the stones together. It was once thought that vitrification was part of the building process but it is now more commonly believed to have been a process of destruction – where a conquered hillfort was destroyed by the victors.

In the early 1770s the engineer John Williams conducted one of the earliest recorded archaeological excavations in Scotland here.

The views from the summit are spectacular in all directions.

wonderful history and images!! I didn’t get to Dingwall!

Comment by the dune mouse May 28, 2016 @ 11:08 pm

Reply