Archaeology Notes

Event ID 723274

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/723274

NX13SW 17 1418 3064 to 1452 3086

(NX 1418 3064 - NX 1452 3086) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

E of the road, this starts on the cliff edge as a stone-faced earthen or turf wall, 3' - 4' wide and up to 3' high, with a quarry-trench on its S side. Here it is merely a boundary wall. After a short distance the wall increases to a thickness of 6', but its construction remains the same, and it is flanked on both sides by quarry-trenches. Near the road it reaches a maximum thickness of 11' and rises to an external height of 5'6". The narrow trench at the bottom of the rear quarry-ditch is probably a later drainage ditch, upcast from which appears sporadically on the crest.

W of the road, the earthwork resumes its course on a slightly different line, so that the road was presumably already there when it was constructed. The outer mound and ditch, which were traceable at one point E of the road are now a continuous feature, but the mound is not more than 18" high, and the ditch is of slight proportions. The wall is best preserved at C, where it is 11' high externally and 5'6" above the inner ditch, which is 4' deep. This external height is rather exaggerated here by the natural slope; normally the wall averages 6' in height. The facing stones are mostly obscured, but some survive, showing that its construction is similar to that E of the road. This stage ends with a wide gap in the outer mound and ditch, and a reduction in the width of the wall facing the gap.

At D, there is the inner mound, 1' high above the interior and 5'6" above the ditch. This sector ends at another gap and reduction similar to C.

In the final sector, the mound loses its ditch and the wall is seen to be a thin and late topping-up of the earlier mound which diverges from the main work at the W end. The narrow stone wall visible in the gaps clearly also belongs to the late re-build as does the enclosure at the W end, which is probably contemporary with the narrow wall.

At E, the inner ditch is 1'9" below the crest of the wall, which is 5'6" above the outer ditch, but only 6" high internally. The outer bank is similarly only 6" high.

Though more complex than NX13SW 16, it is very doubtful if this entrenchment is defensive or of any great antiquity. It appears to be not older than the road to the lighthouse, and the outer mound, which from its alignment seem to be an integral part of the work, is of trifling size, while the stone wall is merely a boundary wall E of the road, and also in the gaps W of it.

RCAHMS TS 29 June 1955

As described. A probable 18th - 19th century field bank. Not an antiquity. Revised at 25".

Visited by OS (RD) 9 February 1972

A substantial earthwork cuts off an area of about 57ha at the E end of the Mull of Galloway; it measures 400m in length and is situated 330m SSE of the earthwork (NX13SW 16) at the narrow isthmus between the bays of East and West Tarbet. In most places it comprises three ditches with medial banks, the inner bank being the larger, measuring between 3.1m and 4m in thickness with an external height of up to 2.2m. There are at least two periods of construction, however, and the inner bank is also capped by a turf dyke of relatively recent date which blocks four original gaps through the earthwork. The date and purpose of the earthwork are unknown.

NSA 1845; W Todd 1854; G Wilson 1885; NMRS, SAS 456 & 457; RCAHMS 1912; 1985, visited July 1984; RCAHMS Survey of Marginal Lands.