SC2153: Islay, Dun Nosebridge | (Neriby; Dun Noesbridge; Mulindry; Upper Laggan Valley) |
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HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 2324
NMR: NR 36 SE 10 (37721)
SM: 3936
NGR: NR 3713 6011
X: 137130 Y: 660110 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
Dun Nosebridge is an unusual fort in the context of Islay, and to some extent the rest of Argyll, not for its position on a ridge rising from the valley floor, with a high crag forming its SE flank, but for its use of ditches in the defences, which rise in three tiers to a relatively small enclosure crowning the summit of the ridge (but see also Atlas No. 2154). Subrectangular on plan, this measures no more than 25m from NE to SW by 15m transversely (0.01ha) within a wall reduced to a bank of rubble that still stands 1.6m high above the level of the interior on the SW and considerably more externally where the flanks of the summit appear to have been scarped everywhere except along the edge of the crag on the SE. This inner enclosure stands within an outer enclosure that backs onto the cliff edge and takes in an overall area of about 0.18ha within a grass grown rampart up to 2m in height. The material for the rampart has been quarried internally and taken from an external ditch which can be traced around the SW and NW. It is unclear whether the inner and outer enclosures are contemporary, but on the W the ditch of the outer appears to have been cut into the back of yet another rampart with a substantial external ditch and a counterscarp bank; following a slightly divergent course across the spine of the ridge on the SW flank, these appear to belong to an earlier scheme, though not one that can now be traced around the NE, where elements of the defences may have been obliterated by the occupation of a later township. A gap in the circuit of the outer enclosure on the NE probably marks the position of the entrance. The interior of the inner enclosure has been cultivated in rigs.
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Confirmed: | There is a possibility that this is an undocumented medieval castle |
X: -689302 Y: 7511330 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -6.192101 Latitude: 55.762749 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Argyll & Bute
Historic County: Argyll
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Killarow And Kilmeny
| Extant: | ✓ |
| Cropmark: | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed: | ✗ |
| Woodland: | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation: | ✗ |
| Parkland: | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing): | ✓ |
| Arable: | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken: | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland: | ✓ |
| Heath: | ✗ |
| Built-up: | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| 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: ✗
| North: | ✗ |
| Northeast: | ✗ |
| East: | ✗ |
| Southeast: | ✗ |
| South: | ✗ |
| Southwest: | ✗ |
| West: | ✗ |
| Northwest: | ✗ |
| Level: | ✓ |
Altitude: 90.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
While this is traditionally identified as a prehistoric fort, the use of ditches and scarping may indicate that most of what is visible belongs to an undocumented castle, comparable in many of its details to Dun Guaidhre, which is itself situated immediately above the parish church of Kilmeny. The topographical position is such, however, that it is likely to have been utilised whenever the need arose in the Iron Age or early medieval period. In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✗ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✓ | NE flank overlain by the remains of a post-medieval township and the interior has also been rigged. |
| None: | No details. |
First depicted on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1881, sheet 209.9), it was visited in 1934 by Gordon Childe, who speculated that it was a vitrified fort, though there is no evidence of vitrifaction on the site (Childe 1935, 83, 84) and seems to have revisited the site in 1942 for the RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys. In 1961 a resistivity survey was carried out across the interior. It was surveyed by RCAHMS in 1979 during the preparation of the County Inventory of Argyll (RCAHMS 1984, 94-5, no.157). It was Scheduled in 1977. It was photographed from the air by RCAHMS in 2006.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1878): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1881, sheet 209.9) |
| Other (1934): | Description (Childe 1935, 83, 84) |
| Other (1942): | Description by Angus Graham and Gordon Childe for the RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys |
| Geophysical Survey (1961): | Early resistivity survey (Carter 1961) |
| Other (1977): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1979): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1984, 94-5, no.157; RCAHMS DC163-4 ) |
| Other (2007): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
Cultivated in rigs and otherwise featureless
| None: | ✓ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Features: | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
Nothing found in early resistivity survey (Carter 1961)
| No Known Geophysics: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Finds: | ✓ |
| Pottery: | ✗ |
| Metal: | ✗ |
| Metalworking: | ✗ |
| Human Bones: | ✗ |
| Animal Bones: | ✗ |
| Lithics: | ✗ |
| Environmental: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked: | ✗ |
| None: | ✓ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
See main summary
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 1 |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
| Entrance 1 (Northeast): | Simple Gap: | in the outer enclosure |
Three roughly concentric ramparts and ditches forming tiers stepping down the flanks of the ridge on the NE, NW and SW
| Enclosed Area 1: | 0.01ha. |
| Enclosed Area 2: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 3: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 4: | ✗ |
| Total Enclosed Area: | 0.0ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.45ha.
| Multi-period Enclosure System: | ✓ | The outer enclosure was possibly a freestanding defence in its own right of 0.18ha |
| Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit: | ✓ |
| Number of Ramparts: | 3 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate: | ✓ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✓ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✓ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✓ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✓ |
| Stone Wall: | ✗ |
| Rubble: | ✗ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✓ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex: | ✗ |
| Timber-framed: | ✗ |
| Timber-laced: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Gang Working: | ✗ |
Ditches: ✓
| Number of Ditches: | 2 |
| Annex: | ✗ | The inner and outer enclosures are not strictly concentric and the outer might thus be regarded as an annexe. |
Carter, W I (1961) 'Neriby', Disc Exc Scot 1961, 23-4
Childe, V G (1935) 'Notes on some duns in Islay'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 69 (1934-5), 81-4
RCAHMS (1984) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 5: Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay. HMSO: Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C2153
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31089940
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.