Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 867 (None)
NMR: NM 71 SE 2 (22629)
SM: 2439
NGR: NM 7507 1078
X: 175070 Y: 710780 (OSGB36)
The spectacularly well-preserved dun on the summit of this ridge stands within a larger enclosure defended by a wall set lower down the slope. Irregular on plan, this enclosure measures about 50m from N to S by up to 40m transversely (0.13ha) within the wall, which is largely reduced to a band of rubble with a few runs of outer facing-stones on the S and W; a gap on the SW probably marks the entrance. On the N traces of a second wall can be seen on the inner lip of a ditch some 3m in depth, which, along with a second ditch 1.8m in depth, cuts across the spine of the ridge on this side. The dun itself measures about 20m from NNE to SSW by 13m transversely within a wall between 4m and 4.9m in thickness and still standing in some places up to 3m in height. One entrance with checks and a bar-hole lies on the SW, while a second with chambers to either side, that on the W leading to a mural stair, is on the NE. Excavations were carried out by Allan Macnaughton at the dun in 1890 and 1892.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -626856 Y: 7605587 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -5.631147098616423 Latitude: 56.236231431943715 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Argyll & Bute
Historic County: Argyll
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kilbrandon And Kilchattan
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: 85.0m
N/A
Material recovered from the dun but none of it closely datable
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Secondary walls built within the dun; the latter may also be later than its outworks, here regarded as a possible fortification in its owm right |
| Artefactual: | None |
None
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1871): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1880, sheet 129) |
| Earthwork Survey (1888): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1889, 405-6, fig 30) |
| Excavation (1892): | (Macnaughton 1891) |
| Excavation (1892): | (Macnaughton 1893) |
| Other (1964): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1966): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1975, 91-2, no.189, fig 75; RCAHMS AGD 494/1-5) |
| Other (1971): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Featureless apart from the dun
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Summit occupied by the dun
| 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 | ✗ |
Stone pounders discs and querns; a quartz strike-a-light; bronze stem; iron blade; iron slag; bone points and other antler and bone material.
| 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
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | None |
Single wall, with additional wall and ditches on the N
| Area 1: | 0.13ha. |
| Total: | 0.13ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | The central dun is discounted from this analysis |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| 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 |
| ✓ | Cutting across the spine of the ridge |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
Christison, D (1889) The duns and forts of Lorne, Nether Lochaber, and the neighbourhood'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 23 (1888-9), 368-432
Macnaughton, A (1891) 'Notice of excavations in the South Fort, Island of Luing, Argyleshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 25 (1890-91), 476-83
Macnaughton, A (1893) 'Notes on further excavations of the South Fort, Luing, Argyllshire'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 27 (1892-93), 375-80
RCAHMS (1975) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the ancient monuments: volume 2: Lorn. 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