Archaeology Notes

Event ID 663281

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/663281

NH77NW 6 7148 7616.

(NH 7148 7616) Dun (NR)

OS 25" map, (1968)

In cleared woodland on a grassy eminence which is bordered by a ravine in the W and by natural slopes in the S, is a dun, within a sub-circular outer defence, augmented by additional outworks to the NNW at the easiest approach.

It measures c. 13.0m in diameter between the centres of a mutilated rubble wall, surviving to a maximum height of 1.0m internally and 2.0m externally, spread to c. 7.0m wide. No wall faces can be seen, and the small size of the stones suggests a timber-laced construction. An outcrop is incorporated in the wall in the SW. The entrance is in the NNW. Within the dun is a depression choked with stones; it may have been a well.

The outer defence, enclosing an area c. 35.0m in diameter, survives in the W as a ruinous wall spread to c. 2.5m, with occasional facing stones visible suggesting a wall thickness of c. 2.0m, and elsewhere as a stony scarp c. 2.0m maximum height. The entrance is in the NNW, coincident with the dun entrance. The base course of the outer wall face can be seen at the foot of the scarp to the E of the entrance, and three inner facing stones in the roots of a tree suggest that the wall was about 6.0m wide at this point. The W side of the entrance is formed by the wall turning outwards then back to the SW to end on the brink of the ravine. Outer facing stones are visible intermittently for about 8.0m. The outermost defence in the NNW protecting the entrance is another ruinous wall commencing at the ravine and running parallel to the inner defence for a distance of c. 40.0m before petering out. There are indications that it may have continued to encircle the dun, but this is uncertain. There is an ill-defined break opposite the other entrances. In the NE and SE are two depressions, probably later quarry scoops. ISSFC 1902; Visited by OS (N K B) 23 November 1970.

Photos and records held by G Mortimer, Bothwell Rd, Hamilton, Lanark. letter written July 1985.