SC2267: Killean   |
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HER:  The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 3496
NMR:  NR 74 SW 15 (38904)
SM:  3179
NGR:  NR 7020 4477
X:  170200  Y:  644770  (EPSG:27700)
Boundary:  ✗
This small oval fortification is situated on the S edge of the gorge of the Killean Burn and measures only 30m from N to S by 20m transversely (0.05ha) within a wall reduced to little more than a thin band of rubble. A second wall lies concentrically on the NW quarter, where a third wall possibly formed a small annexe or hornwork outside a gap in the inner defences that probably marks the position of the entrance. The interior is featureless.
Citizen Science:   | ✗   |
Reliability of Data:   | Confirmed |
Reliability of Interpretation:   | Confirmed:   | Falls well below the 0.2ha threshold, but its position and the character of the defences indicate this is a small fort |
X:  -629327  Y:  7487482  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -5.653338  Latitude:  55.642031  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Argyll & Bute
Historic County:   Argyll
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Killean And Kilchenzie
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:  75.0m
Boundary Type:   | ✗ |
Second HER:  ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  ✗
Second Historic County:  ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  ✗
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:   | ✗   |
None:   | No details. |
1st Identified Map Depiction (1867):   | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1870, sheet 235.11) |
Other (1943):   | Visited and described for RCAHMS wartime Emergency Surveys |
Earthwork Survey (1966):   | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1971, 72, no.168, fig 48; RCAHMS AGD 293/1-2) |
Other (1972):   | Scheduled |
Other (1978):   | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
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:   | ✗ |
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:   | ✗ |
Under trees
APs Not Checked:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✓ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
See main summary
Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:   | 1:   | Heavily degraded in several places |
Number of Possible Original Entrances:   |   |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:   | ✗   |
Entrance 1 (Northwest):   | Simple Gap |
single continuous wall with outer wall on the NW quarter, where there is also a possible annexe or hornwork
Enclosed Area 1:   | 0.05ha. |
Enclosed Area 2:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 3:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 4:   | ✗ |
Total Enclosed Area:   | 0.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  ✗
Multi-period Enclosure System:   | ✗   |
Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:   | ✓   |
Number of Ramparts:   | 2 |
Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:   | 2 |
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:   |
Annex:   | ✓   | What is either a small annexe or a hornwork providing additional protection to the entrance. |
RCAHMS (1971a) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the ancient monuments, volume 1: Kintyre. HMSO: Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts:  https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C2267
Wikidata:  http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31094354
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.