Dun Evan or the Doune of Cawdor is a

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

located south west of

Cawdor Cawdor () is a village and parish in the Highland council area, Scotland. The village is south-southwest of Nairn and east of Inverness. The village is in the Historic County of Nairnshire. History The village is the location of Cawdor ...

in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

area of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is situated on a rocky hill that rises to above

ordnance datum An ordnance datum (OD) is a vertical datum used by an ordnance survey as the basis for deriving altitudes on maps. A spot height may be expressed as above ordnance datum (AOD). Usually mean sea level (MSL) at a particular place is used for the d ...

between the valleys of the

River Nairn The River Nairn () is a 35 mile long river in the Scottish Highlands. Etymology The hydronym ''Nairn'' is Pictish language, Pictish in origin. The name may involve ''*Naverna'', of which the ultimate genesis is the Celtic languages, Celtic ro ...

and its tributary the Allt Dearg. The site has a wide view in all directions, extending to the mouth of the River Nairn at the town of

Nairn Nairn (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland Council council areas of Scotland, area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nair ...

, 7 miles to the north east on the shore of the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; , or ) is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of the north of Scotland. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncans ...

. Dun Evan is scheduled by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

as a site of national importance. A ruined wall surrounds the summit of the hill, enclosing an area measuring by , surviving to an average internal height of and spread to a width of up to . Facing stones and traces of

vitrification Vitrification (, via French ') is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass, that is to say, a non- crystalline or amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses possess a higher degree of connectivity ...

were recorded from this wall in 1963 and a dip in the wall in the north east suggests it was the entrance to the enclosure. A wall enclosing a smaller area of the summit marks a second phase of the defences, probably built with stones removed from the fortifications of the earlier phase. The small size of the stones of the inner walls of the fort suggest that they were timber-laced. Within the fort a circular depression measuring approximately in diameter and deep has been interpreted as a

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

or a

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

. The fort is surrounded by a series of outer defences further down the flanks of the rock, including a arc of ruined walling and earthworks to the south west, and a similar arc to the north east. Within the north east tip of this second arc is a further defensive wall whose surviving height was measured in 1957 as up to , and which extended about back to the southern apex of the rock This was connected to the outer arc by two parallel radial stretches of wall about to apart, which together formed a rectilinear plan which may represent a building or reinforcing cross-walls, but appear to have been built on a larger scale than the rest of the defences.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Hill forts in Scotland Vitrified forts in Scotland Archaeological sites in Highland (council area) Scheduled monuments in Highland