1045382 |
DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS |
NOTE |
This promontory fort occupies Crammag Head, a bare rocky headland crowned by a small lighthouse on the W coast of the Rhinns of Galloway. Its defences comprise a single rampart with an external ditch, which cut off the landward approach from the E. The rampart has been heavily damaged and at its N end has been reduced to little more than a scatter of stones, but towards the S it increases to a maximum of 4.4m in thickness by 0.5m in height, and the accompanying ditch is 5.5m in breadth by 0.3m in depth; a gap between their southern terminals and the edge of the promontory probably marks the position of the entrance. The extent of the interior is difficult to determine, extending to a maximum of 0.6ha where the bare rock steps down to the sea on the W. The occupiable area, however, would have been considerably smaller and perhaps as little as 0.2ha, representing the current extent of continuous grass cover on the top of the promontory, which was formerly occupied by a broch or dun, though this was partly demolished about 1913 when the lighthouse was erected. The broch or dun measured about 19.5m in overall diameter, and while little more than a scatter of stones remains of its wall on the E, the basal course of the outer face, comprising massive granite blocks up to 1m in length, can be traced around the W, and up to three courses are visible on the NW. The broch or dun was positioned on the seaward side of a narrow neck formed by a precipitous crevice that runs into the headland from the NW some 20m behind the rampart of the fort. The crevice has been enhanced as a defensive outwork to the broch or dun, creating a broad ditch to either side of central causeway some 2.5m wide and faced on the S with granite boulders. On this side of the causeway the ditch is 6.5m in breadth by 1.1m in depth, but to the N its breadth increases to 9m and it is 1.3m in depth. [...] |
20 December 2013 |
1045397 |
DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS |
NOTE |
This fort, which is overlain by a later enclosure, occupies a steep-sided promontory on the N side of Aldouran Glen, at this point a deeply-cut minor valley some 30m deep. The defences of the fort comprise up to three earthen ramparts with intervening ditches, which cut off a triangular area measuring 27m from NE to SW by a maximum of 23m transversely (0.03ha). The innermost rampart measures up to 5.4m in thickness by 0.8m in height and is flanked externally by a ditch 5.5m in breadth by 0.7m in depth. Outside this ditch there is the appearance of another rampart set beyond a berm from 1m to 3m wide, but this is almost certainly a later bank extending along the inner lip of a broad flat-bottomed outer ditch from 8.3m to 15.5m across. The bank turns outwards along the sides of the promontory to unite with a bank overlying the outermost rampart, thus exploiting the ditch to form an enclosure measuring some 42m in length. The outermost rampart forms a counterscarp on the outer lip of the outer ditch and is up to 4.7m thick by 1m high. The position of the original entrance is uncertain, and though there seems to be a gap between the terminals of the ramparts and the NW side of the promontory, traces of the inner ditch can be seen extending across it. [...] |
20 December 2013 |
1045383 |
DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS |
NOTE |
This fort occupies the summit of Dunman, a flat rocky summit on the precipitous western coast of the Rhinns of Galloway. Its defences comprise a single wall, which follows the crest of a natural escarpment some 7m high around the eastern half of the summit from the N round to the SSW. Elsewhere the topography appear to have provided sufficient protection, on the SW falling away into the sea. The wall itself has been reduced to little more than a band of rubble spread 3.5m in maximum thickness and 1m in height, and in addition to a natural terrace that provides access to the interior on the N, there are original entrances on the NNE and S, while a gap on the ESE was probably made when large quantities of stone were removed in 1848 to build a march dyke. The rocky interior, which measures 100m from N to S by a maximum of 78m transversely, is featureless. [...] |
20 December 2013 |