Field Visit

Date 29 September 1911

Event ID 918614

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/918614

472. 'Doon', Nun Mill

This fort is situated on the top of the steep-wooded bank which rises above the road from Kirkcudbright to Senwick, just to the westward of Nun Mill. From an elevation of some 90 feet above the low meadow, which intervenes between the bank and the foreshore, the fort commands the mouth of the Dee as the river opens into Kirkcudbright Bay. A system of two trenches and two mounds placed alternately and in horse-shoe form resting on the edge of the bank, has enclosed an area with a chord of some 179 feet and a radius at its greatest depth of 154 feet. On the east the defences have been considerably effaced, but elsewhere they are unusually well preserved. The inner scarp, which is sloped to an angle of some 40 degrees, varies in height up to 14 feet, while the trench from crest to crest measures from 30 to 40 feet in width; the inner mound is prominent and well -formed ; the outer trench has a width of 24 to 30 feet with a steep scarp as high as 8 feet, and a counterscarp of from 3 to 4 feet. Along the crest of the inner rampart are traceable the foundations of a narrow wall some 2 feet 6 inches in width, which has occupied the flat top. A broad gap through the inner rampart towards the west and a slight depression on the innermost scarp seems to indicate the position of the entrance. The ramparts are of earth and stone. See Antiquaries, xxvii. p.136 (plan).

Visited by RCAHMS 29th September 1911.