Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Dumfries & Galloway MDG5759 (None)
NMR: NX 89 SW 1 (65300)
SM: 663
NGR: NX 8197 9392
X: 281970 Y: 593927 (OSGB36)
Occupying the conspicuous summit of the steep eastern spur of Auchengibbert Hill, this massively built fort commands extensive views over the country to the S and E. The main lines of defence lie on the SW quarter, blocking the easiest line of approach across the saddle with Auchengibbert Hill, and comprising at least three ramparts with internal quarry ditches. The ramparts are particularly massive in comparison to other forts in the Galloway, standing up to 6.5m in external height, and together with the rock-cut ditches from 7m to 15m in breadth between them, create a formidable belt of defences up to 60m deep on this side. The terminals of all the ramparts turn inwards to either side of the entrance on the SW, to form an entrance way some 50m in length, though rather than an inturned entrance as such, the innermost pair are more likely to be the returns around the terminal of the innermost ditch to meet an inner rampart obscured by the construction of what is probably a medieval or post-medieval castle within the interior. On the N the outer defences rest on the lip of the steep slope forming this flank of the hill, while on the S they peter out on the slope beyond the entrance, but on the NE what may be the innermost rampart extends round the margin of the summit, and an outer rampart loops out to take in a lower terrace. The course of the probable inner rampart and the original extent of the interior are difficult to determine, but an area measuring about 50m from NE to SW by 40m transversely (0.17ha) was probably enclosed on the summit. The character of the later castle is not altogether clear, but a ruinous wall on which in 1912 Alexander Curle observed traces of lime mortar (RCAHMS 1920, 207-8, no.609) forms an oval enclosure measuring internally 45m from NE to SW by 39m transversely; adjacent to the entrance it incorporates a circular structure 8.5m in internal diameter. Two trial pits sunk in the 1967 within the fort, one in the terminal of the middle ditch adjacent to the entrance, and the other immediately outside the wall of the castle on the SW, produced several pieces of vitrifaction, along with evidence of the medieval occupation. Midden material believed to have derived from the occupation of the interior was also recovered in 1964 and 1967 by excavation in the scree below the defences on the S; some of this material probably relates to the use of the site as a castle, but it also included glass beads of early medieval date (Williams 1971). Williams believed that the late 8th-century fragments of gilded copper-alloy sheets bearing vine-scroll and figurative decoration, which were found in 1924 in Tynron (De Paor 1963; Webster and Backhouse 1991, 173-5, no.135), came from these screes, though there is no evidence this was the case.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -429379 Y: 7405743 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.857178585171399 Latitude: 55.22543790610769 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dumfries & Galloway
Historic County: Dumfriesshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Tynron
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✓ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| Contour Fort | ✓ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✓ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 290.0m
N/A
The early medieval material is all derived from deposits outside the fort
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✓ |
| Post AD800 | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Overlain by medieval or post-medieval castle. Though Williams (1971) gives dimensions of a tower here its remains are otherwise unobserved and the map evidence advanced for its existence here is flawed. |
| Artefactual: | None |
First noted in the Statistical Account (1795, xiv ,279-80), recording the robbing of stones to build the kirk, it is first depicted in 1856 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1860, sheet 30.8). In 1912 a plan and description were prepared for the County Inventory for Dumfriesshire (RCAHMS 1920, 207-8, no.609, fig 148). Trial excavations were carried out between 1964-7, both within the defences and in the screes without. The fort was re-surveyed by the OS at 1:2500 in 1977.
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1795): | Description (Statistical Account 1795, xiv ,279-80) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1856): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1860, sheet 30.8) |
| Earthwork Survey (1912): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1920, 207-8, no.609, fig 148) |
| Other (1969): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1970): | Plan by Williams 1971, accompanying excavation |
| Other (1977): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Excavation (None): | Trial pits (Williams 1971) |
Apart from the later castle, the interior is apparently featurelss
Noted by Curle in 1912 within the terminal of the inner ditch and possibly relating to a later occupation
| None | ✗ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✓ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
This range of material is found in middens outside the fort and includes early medieval glass beads, and undated evidence of ironworking.
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✓ |
| Metalworking | ✓ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✓ |
| Lithics | ✓ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Passage-way/Corridor (South west): | None |
Probably four ramparts with intervening ditches on the SW
| Area 1: | 0.17ha. |
| Total: | 0.17ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.8ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✓ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Rubble of a wall probably relating to the medieval or later occupation.
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✓ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✓ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Vitrifaction discovered through excavation; ditch terminal
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✓ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 3
| ✗ | None |
De Paor, L (1963) 'Some vine scrolls and other patterns in embossed metal from Dumfriesshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 94, 184-95 fig. 1, pl. xii
Maxwell-Irving, A M T (2000) The Border towers of Scotland: their history and architecture: the West March, [S.l.]
RCAHMS (1920) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Seventh report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Dumfries, Edinburgh
Webster and Backhouse, L E and J (1991) The making of England: Anglo-Saxon art and culture, AD 600-900, British Museum, London
Williams, J (1971) 'Tynron Doon, Dumfriesshire: a history of the site with notes on the finds 1924-67', Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, 3 Ser, 48, 106-20 plan
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1