Archaeology Notes

Event ID 699949

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/699949

NS05SE 14 08648 53324.

The only high ground in the neighbourhood of the fort (NS05SE 4) from whence the smallest apprehension could be entertained of its being assailed by any sort of weapons before the use of gunpowder, was a hill at some distance to the north-east, known by the name of Little Dun, or little fort, and from the remains of dykes and excavations – some natural and others appearing to be artificial - it is probable that this hill was in use to be held as an outwork to the principal garrison.

J Blain in W Ross 1880

The first hillock or little fort runs north-east and south-west or at nearly a right angle to the ridge on which the fort is placed, its highest point being towards the south-west. This hillock offers an irregular surface with numerous small plateau having precipitous or steeply sloping sides. These latter are all protected by ruined walls composed mostly of rounded stones, showing no signs of vitrifaction. The soil at the top of this fort is of a character similar to that found in ancient habitations. It is rich and loamy. Only slight digging was undertaken here, but what was done showed evidence of occupation of probably similar date to the other places. [A plan of both forts was undertaken at a scale of 19 inches to the mile (approx. 1:3300)].

J N Marshall 1915

Fragment of a clay mould for casting a large curved object, found at the "Little Fort," Dunagoil, Bute. Presented by Mrs C M Piggott, FSA Scot.

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland meeting minutes 1948

It was in 1957 that Mr C A Raleigh Radford, after visiting Little Dunagoil, suggested that it might have been used at the same time as the settlement at St Blane’s and that excavation might establish some connection between the two sites.

D N Marshall 1964

NS 087 532. The craggy site at Little Dunagoil resembles, on a small scale, the class of citadel or nuclear forts exemplified by Dunadd (NR89SW 1). Excavations in 1958-61 showed that it was occupied from the Late Bronze Age up to the 13th century. At 'A', in the SW, between outcrops, there is a steep grassy slope, pitched with stone walling. Excavations revealed post holes and a layer of occupation material. Finds made included a Late Bronze Age mould for a socketed axe, Iron Age pottery, and a comb fragment, probably Norse, 12th - 13th century. Behind the post-hole area and above the occupation layer were the remains of a much- robbed, later wall. At 'B', a little down the hillock is a flat, sheltered area. The space between two crags has been filled by a wall, similar to that at Dunadd. A single course remains at 'BB'. Though the area had been extensively occupied, no regular plan of huts could be made out. 'C' is divided from the rest of the complex by wall. 'Y': No evidence of occupation was found, and this area is thought to have been a cattle enclosure, with wall '00' to guide the animals. At 'D' and 'E' are 12th - 13th century long- houses. 'D' was 42 x 22 ft; two sherds of Samian pottery were found there, as well as other pottery of 5th - 7th, and 13th century date. 'E' was 45 x 22 ft; a stone, 3 1/2 ft high, in its E wall, has two cup marks on its inner face. A shell midden and a hearth were found in cave 'F'. A row of stones set into the ground at 'H' could not be explained. Traces of walling 'K' run round the S quadrant of the summit and over its highest point. Rampart 'R' partly encloses the complex of hillock and longhouses; the entrance may have been from the S. 'S', an outer rampart, runs parallel to 'R' for 24ft.

D N Marshall 1964.

Centred NS 0865 5330 There is little surface evidence of the early occupation revealed by excavation at Little Dunagoil (Marshall 1964) (name accepted locally); a short stretch of walling, now reduced to a grass-covered spread of stones 1.5m wide, on the S side of the summit and a length of walling (kk on plan) (Marshall 1964) are all that can be traced. The latter leads down from the top of the site and runs alongside another much ruined wall 4.0m away on its N to form an entrance passage at the only point of easy access to the fort. Just to the N of this entrance is the enclosure 'C', bounded by steep slopes on all sides except the W where there is a well-preserved wall ('Y' on plan) 1.5m wide and 0.6m high. Wall '00' runs down the slope from here to a point just behind the eastern longhouse. The two longhouses are generally as described. A turf and stone wall 2.0m wide and 0.8m high runs around the east side of the hill to partially enclose the whole complex. It has been destroyed by a modern field wall on the N but reappears just to the W where it is accompanied for a short distance by an outer bank. This turf wall also runs southwards from Little Dunagoil for about 300.0m and appears to enclose all the land on its seaward side, and though described as a rampart by the previous authority it would seem to be of a defining or confining nature rather then defensive.

At NS 0861 5333 under the W facing cliff is a cave (F on plan) 2.0m high by 1.5m wide by 5.0 long. The finds from this site are in Rothesay Museum.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (B S) 11 November 1976.

(Clay mould for socketed axe of Roseberry Topping variant of Sompting type). Single find. Mould of clay, blade part only. Length 155mm, length of matrix 115mm, width of cutting on matrix 89mm. Rothesay Museum (reg. unknown).

P K Schmidt and C B Burgess 1981.

There is a mould for a knobbed spear-butt from Little Dunagoil, Bute, a fort usually dated

to the first century BC-AD (Macgregor 1976, 85). But it seems unlikely on present evidence that

knobbed spear-butts are as early as this, and there is also 'Dark-Age' occupation at Little

Dunagoil, indicated by post-Roman pottery (Marshall 1964).

L Laing and J Laing 1987

A new survey was undertaken in March-April 1994 and November 1994 of the forts and environs of Dunagoil, Bute, which revealed a number of structural features hitherto unrecorded, and helped to clarify anomalies in previous reports of the sites. During the course of the survey a fragment of jet bracelet and coarse pottery sherd were recovered from mole-hills in the summit of Little Dunagoil fort. These have been deposited in the Bute Museum at Rothesay (Reg nos: BM 1994.100 and 1994. 101 respectively).

Sponsor: University of Edinburgh, Department of Archaeology.

Harding, Ralston and Burgess 1994.

NS 086 533-084 531 A second season of survey work was carried out on the site of the two forts at Dunagoil on the SW coast of the Isle of Bute. This season saw the completion of the detailed topographic survey of an area measuring c1000m by 500m, and allowed comprehensive three-dimensional models to be formed to aid in the understanding of the location and topography of the sites.

A further stage of field work will be required for verification of the features surveyed before publicatoin.

D W Harding, I Ralston and C Burgess 1995

This site was noted during a coastal zone assessment survey undertaken by CFA Archaeology Ltd to characterise the state of coastal erosion and the threat it poses to cultural heritage sites. A gazetteer in the report included a note of existing records and new sites when discovered. Where the site was located, notes included condition, period/date and recommendations.

Commissioned by The Scape Trust and Firth of Clyde Forum on behalf of Historic Scotland.

Cressey and Johnson 2004

A re-assessment of the Dunagoil complex was undertaken in the light of the survey of 1994 to 1995 and a re-examination of the finds from the main vitrified fort (NS05SE 4), which are now held in Bute Museum, Rothesay. The new survey of Little Dunagoil (NS05SE 14) clarified the plan of the near continuous circuit of walling at the lower NE end of the fort and also the nature and extent of features below the fort (NS05SE 30) that include buildings and a complex of enclosure banks first excavated by Marshall in 1964.

D W Harding 2004

This fort is situated on a volcanic plug in rough ground about 400m SW of Dunagoil farmstead (NS05SE 44) and about 300m NE of the more substantial vitrified fort at Dunagoil (NS05SE 4). The enclosed area measures about 75m from SW to NE by 20m and is shaped in plan like a dumbell, slightly enlarged at the SW end. There are three flattish areas in the interior, which were excavated by D N Marshall between 1958 and 1962; two at the SW (Areas A and B) and one lower area at the NE (Area C), connected by a narrower section sloping from NW to SE. The edges of the volcanic plug are less precipitous to the S and SE and it is here that the best preserved sections of rampart survive, though it is visible at other points round the circumference. A later, better preserved and narrower bank straddles the interior cutting off area C. Blain, writing in the early 19th century, mentions the 'Little Dun' describing the mixture of natural and artificial dykes and excavations, and supposing that it was probably an outwork to Dunagoil (1880, 79).

The adjacent farmstead, possibly occupied in the Norse period, is considered elsewhere (NS05SE 30).

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, AGCH, ARG, IP) 20 March 2009.