Field Visit

Date 19 May 1953

Event ID 1111053

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1111053

RCAHMS Inventory: Stirlingshire

NS68NW 605865 (unnoted)

Fort, Dunmore.

Dunmore, rising to a height of 1126 ft. above sea-level, is the northernmost hill-top of the Campsie Fells. It is situated half a mile W. of Fintry and dominates the narrow mouth of the Upper Endrick valley opposite the point where the Fintry Hills give way to the broad plain that stretches thence westwards to Loch Lomond. The rocky eminence forming the hilltop rises sharply from the high plateau to the S., across which the approaches are comparatively level, while to the N. the ground falls steeply to the river nearly 900 ft. below.

The summit of the hill consists in the main of an oval area measuring about 530 ft. from E. to W. by a maximum of 170 ft. transversely (Fig. 16). It is girt on all sides by steep, and in places precipitous, rocky slopes. Most of this area is comparatively level and covered in coarse pasture and heather, but the surface of the SW. quarter consists of bare rock. The remains of a stone wall (A in Fig. 16) are visible round much of the margin of the summit area. Judging by the amount and position of the debris, the wall seems to have been about 12 ft. in thickness at the base, and the lowest courses of the outer face appear to have been set into the rocky slopes of the hill, a few feet below the crest-line. No trace of wall debris can be seen along the SW. margin of the summit area, where the presumed line of the wall lies on a bare rocky cliff; but as soon as this gives way to the less severe W. and WNW. slopes a considerable amount of rubble remains to mark the course of the wall. After running NNE. for about 100 ft. the line of debris turns ESE. To follow the margin of the summit area for about 200 ft., when it is interrupted by a gully. This presumably formed the entrance to the fortified summit from an outer defensive area described below. The debris can be followed thereafter for about 60 ft., but beyond this point it is lost in coarse grass and heather until it reappears 200 ft. further on. From here it turns S. and SW. to round the E. extremity of the summit area, finally running W. for 200 ft. before meeting and dying out upon the rocky SW. crest-line.

The ESE. arc of the wall is covered by a horn-work (B) which runs along a subsidiary crest about 11 ft. below it for 150 ft. before dying out on the ever-steepening slopes of the rock at a distance of 30 ft. outside the main wall.

The rocky N. flank of the summit area falls only 36 ft. before reaching a broad ridge, the central spine of which increases in height as it runs ESE. To NW. the ridge is bounded by a steep, rocky slope which is a continuation of the NW. flank of the summit area. As this continues N. and NE. it becomes increasingly precipitous until, at the NE. corner of the ridge, it includes sheer rock-faces. A gully of ever-increasing breadth and depth starts at about the central point on the line of union between the summit and the ridge to the N. of it, running ESE. To merge eventually into the gentler rock-strewn slopes ESE. of both summit and ridge. Except to the ESE., therefore, the ridge is bordered by slopes and cliffs so precipitous as probably to render a defensive wall superfluous. From the NE. angle of the ridge, however, a wall 12 ft. in thickness (C) runs SSW. along the crest of the ESE. slope; on reaching the lip of the gully, which here, near the mouth, is 140 ft. in width and 20 ft. in depth, it descends into the gully, crosses the bottom, and ascends a little way up the opposite slope towards wall A. This feature recalls very precisely a wall which forms part of the fort on Rubers Law in Roxburghshire (1).

A gap about 4 ft. in width, which can be seen among the debris of wall C at the point where this crosses the bottom of the gully, presumably represents the entrance to this part of the fort, and from it the way is clear to the gap, mentioned above, which occurs in the N. sector of wall A.

A ruinous circular foundation (E) lies outside the fort on the slope 50 ft. ESE. of the entrance in the mouth of the gully. It consists of a ring of tumbled stones which measures 20 ft. in internal diameter and is presumably a hut-circle later in date than the fort.

A low rocky terrace, measuring about 400 ft. in length from E. to W. by about 120 ft. transversely, lies immediately S. of, and 38 ft. below, the E. half of the summit area and separates this from the moorland to the S. A ruinous stone wall (D) about 5 ft. 6 in. in thickness starts at the W. end of the terrace and runs E. along the middle of it, at first upon a line of outcropping rock, to die out among the rocks near the E. end. At a point 70 ft. from the W. end of this wall, a branch 20 ft. in length runs N. from it to the foot of the rocky slope here flanking the summit area. The little enclosure thus formed lies at the bottom of a narrow, natural crevice which runs NE. obliquely up the slope to the line of the main wall of the fort and which could have formed a subsidiary entrance to it. A gap about 6 ft. in width occurs about half-way along wall D on the terrace. This wall might be contemporary with the fort.

At a point a few yards W. of the entrance in wall D a small rectangular hut, measuring 14 ft. by 9 ft. within wall 2 ft. in thickness, has been built partly upon and partly within the ruin of the wall. This hut is comparable in size and appearance with the four that lie on the slopes of Dungoil (NS68SW 1), two and a half miles to the SE.

A modern cairn 6 ft. in height and 18 ft. in diameter, built from stones taken from the debris of the main wall, stands close to the SE. extremity of the summit area.

RCAHMS 1963, visited 19 May 1953.

(1) NT51NE 8; RCAHMS 1956, No. 145 (wall B, SE of the summit).