Note
Date 30 September 2014 - 18 October 2016
Event ID 1044628
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044628
Dun Nosebridge is an unusual fort in the context of Islay, and to some extent the rest of Argyll, not for its position on a ridge rising from the valley floor, with a high crag forming its SE flank, but for its use of ditches in the defences, which rise in three tiers to a relatively small enclosure crowning the summit of the ridge (but see also Atlas No. 2154). Subrectangular on plan, this measures no more than 25m from NE to SW by 15m transversely (0.01ha) within a wall reduced to a bank of rubble that still stands 1.6m high above the level of the interior on the SW and considerably more externally where the flanks of the summit appear to have been scarped everywhere except along the edge of the crag on the SE. This inner enclosure stands within an outer enclosure that backs onto the cliff edge and takes in an overall area of about 0.18ha within a grass grown rampart up to 2m in height. The material for the rampart has been quarried internally and taken from an external ditch which can be traced around the SW and NW. It is unclear whether the inner and outer enclosures are contemporary, but on the W the ditch of the outer appears to have been cut into the back of yet another rampart with a substantial external ditch and a counterscarp bank; following a slightly divergent course across the spine of the ridge on the SW flank, these appear to belong to an earlier scheme, though not one that can now be traced around the NE, where elements of the defences may have been obliterated by the occupation of a later township. A gap in the circuit of the outer enclosure on the NE probably marks the position of the entrance. The interior of the inner enclosure has been cultivated in rigs.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2153
