A summit of the Sidlaws in east Perth and Kinross, Dunsinane Hill rises to a height of 310m (1017 feet) a mile (1.6 km) east of Kirkton of Collace and 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Perth. Dunsinane is the traditional site of a battle in 1054 during which Macbeth was defeated by Siward, Earl of Northumbria. In Shakespeare's play of the same name Macbeth is told that he "shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him."
A sizeable and well-defined late Iron Age hill-fort on the summit is known as Macbeth's Castle, and named as such on Stobie's map of The counties of Perth and Clackmannan (1783). Its defences comprise a pair of concentric ramparts standing up to 1.8m / 6 feet in height. The site extends to around 205m by 160m (672 feet by 525 feet) and there are entrances to the northwest, southwest and southeast. The hill-fort was damaged by the excavations of antiquarians attracted by its
Shakespearean connection, including those of James Playfair in 1799.
Macbeth's Well lies to the north of the summit, while the Collace Quarry eats into its western slopes of the hill.
