Brown and White Caterthuns

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland: 'There is a parking bay at the foot of the White Caterthun for a few cars.' No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown. The bay is on the hill road between the two forts, with an information board and gates onto both paths.

Driving pin: the parking bay, about 380 m south of Historic Scotland's own pin between the two summits. From the bay a path climbs about 500 m west to the White Caterthun and a moorland track runs about 900 m north-east to the Brown Caterthun. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

West of Edzell, two Iron Age hill forts crown neighbouring hills about 1 km apart, looking out over Strathmore and towards the Angus glens; HES describes them as perhaps one site with two summits. Both are ringed by earthworks probably built in the first millennium BC. Excavation in the 1990s showed that the Brown Caterthun's ramparts were burned, rebuilt and remodelled in several phases between about 700 BC and 200 BC, and that few people lived there. The slightly higher White Caterthun is crowned by a great stone fort, once several metres high and now a massive band of tumbled stone with traces of vitrification, where the stones fused in intense heat; inside are roundhouse remains and a deep rock-cut cistern. Many entrances line up like avenues to the summits. Park in the small bay on the hill road between the two: the White is about 500 m up a grass path, the Brown about 900 m along a wetter heather track.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Brown and White CaterthunsOpen all year; an unstaffed hilltop site reached on foot, no hours published

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'The Caterthuns are free to visit and open year-round.' No hours are published; the forts are on open hill ground reached on foot from the parking bay.

Both hills are exposed moorland: Historic Scotland asks visitors to 'take into consideration weather conditions before visiting as the monument sits in a remote landscape. Strong footwear is recommended.' Reviewers describe a short climb to the White Caterthun and a wetter heather track to the Brown Caterthun. No toilets or other facilities.

Photo: The tumbled stone rampart of the White Caterthun fort above heather-covered banks, with the Angus glens beyond under a blue sky. Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ramparts,_White_Caterthun_-_geograph.org.uk_-_7832944.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.