Arran, Glen Sannox

NS04NW 27 0083 4567

NS 0083 4567. At 90m OD on the S end of a long spine of conglomerate outcrop, overlooking the delta of the Sannox river, are the stone-built founds of a wall, c 1.8m wide enclosing an area of 24 x 20.5m. There is a heavy well-laid double boulder revetment to the S and the steep sides are covered with tumbled stones.

Four oval founds, possibly shielings, lie below, and stones from the tumble appear to have been used in their construction. This site overlooks the vitrified fort of An Cnap.

F Gorman and B Murray 1998.

This site was identified using visualisations derived from Airborne Laser Scanning data, and subsequently visited in the field.

HES Survey and Recording 12 March 2018

This dun is situated at the S end of a ridge at the entrance to Glen Sannox, some 385m N of the Sannox Burn. It has a fine outlook to the E, overlooking the Corrie golf course and the coast beyond, while there is an equally impressive view W to where the rising peaks and corries at the head of the glen form part of the Goat Fell massif. The dun, which is roughly oval on plan, measures 19m from NW to SE by 16.5m transversely within heavily robbed, bracken- and grass-grown granite and conglomerate stone walls up to 3m thick and 0.25m high. At least 26 facing stones are visible around its external circumference, while a steep natural break in the underlying topography on the NW has caused what is left of the wall’s foundations to tumble down into a shallow gully that crosses its line. The wall running along the E and W sides of the ridge appears to have been underpinned with a rough batter of boulders. The entrance on the SE is about 2m wide and is lined on the NE with a large cracked slab. The interior is uneven and slopes down from E to W. There is a pronounced bracken- and grass-grown rock outcrop on the SSW which is partly overridden by the wall.

The remains of four huts are situated on gently sloping ground at the foot of the ridge on the E. All contain large quantities of stone that may have been robbed from the dun. The best-preserved structure (NS 00823 45675), which is the most northerly, measures about 3m square within a wall reduced to a bracken- and grass-grown, stone-and-earth bank 1m thick and 0.25m high. There is an entrance at the NW corner. A second hut (NS 00823 45665), situated 4m S, measures 3.5m from NNW to SSE by 2m transversely within a bracken- and grass-grown stone-and-earth bank 0.6m thick and 0.25m high. There is an entrance on the NNE. By comparison, the two remaining structures (NS 00824 45654 and NS 00823 454646), situated respectively 6m and 15m further S, are now little more than crude depressions within shapeless heaps of stone and earth.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording, (ATW, KLG, AMcC) 30 October 2019.