Chesters Hill Fort

Chesters Hill Fort lies in farmland a mile south of Drem, with wide views over the Firth of Forth to Fife, and is one of the best-preserved Iron Age hillforts in Scotland. Probably built in the first millennium BC and lived in into the Roman period, it is an enclosure about 115 by 45 metres ringed by at least six earthwork ramparts up to five metres high, with elaborate entrances to the north-west and east. Traces of roundhouses inside, some overlying the defences, show at least two phases. Oddly, the fort is overlooked by higher ground to the south, leaving it open to arrows and slingshot, so it may have been built more for prestige than defence. From a signposted car park for about three cars at a farm entrance, a worn path leads through trees and across a field to a stile; it is muddy in wet weather, so keep to the signed route.