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.
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