Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 3517 (None)
NMR: NR 75 NE 1 (38925)
SM: 2491
NGR: NR 7577 5721
X: 175770 Y: 657210 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on the elongated summit of Dun Skeig, a prominent position overlooking the mouth of West Loch Tarbert from Kintyre, and has an oval dun displaying massive vitrifaction overlying the SW end, and a second dun with its wall substantially intact overlying the other. The fort itself measures about 110m from NE to SW by between 17m and 40m transversely (0.34ha) within a single wall which has been reduced to either a low bank or a scarp everywhere except at the NE end, where long runs of the outer face remain in place. The differential preservation here led RCAHMS investigators to speculate that this end of the fort had been rebuilt as an outwork to the dun crowning this end of the summit. The investigators also observed pieces of vitrified stone incorporated into the wall of the dun, which is thus thought to be more recent than the vitrified dun on the SW end of the summit. The entrance to the fort may have been at the northern end of the NW side, where a trackway traverses the line of the wall, though its axis from N to S does not conform to the possible stagger in the positions of the terminals to either side of the gap.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -620629 Y: 7510033 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -5.575201183344809 Latitude: 55.75619167475218 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Argyll & Bute
Historic County: Argyll
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kilcalmonell
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: 140.0m
N/A
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 | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | Cup marked outcrop immediately outside the fort on the NE |
| Post Hillfort: | Overlain by two duns |
There is also a 19th century plan of unknown date in the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland manuscripts held by RCAHMS (SAS467 RCAHMS DC52978-9)
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1794): | Noted (Stat Acct 10, 1794, 56n) |
| Other (1843): | Noted (NSA 7, Argyll, 410) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1867): | Duns annotated Fort and Fort (vitrified) on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1873, sheet 212.13) |
| Other (1955): | Visited RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands |
| Earthwork Survey (1956): | Plan RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands (RCAHMS AGD 290/1) |
| Other (1963): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1971, 70-1, no.165, fig 45; RCAHMS AGD 290/2) |
| Other (1964): | Scheduled |
| Other (1973): | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
| Other (1977): | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
Featureless apart from the two duns
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Overlain by two duns
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
only the two duns
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
See main summary
| 1: | Large sector missing on the NE, and the SW end is entirely obscured by the construction of the dun at the SW end. |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Over-lapping (North): | Heavily denuded but the terminals may be staggered |
Single wall enclosing the summit
| Area 1: | 0.34ha. |
| Total: | 0.34ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
The dun on the SW end of the fort is heavily vitrified and displays massive vitrifaction
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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: None
| ✗ | None |
Feachem, R W 1963 Guide to Prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 108)
RCAHMS (1971) 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:
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