Clach Mackenny

NS28SW 70 2395 8356

NS 2395 8356 At 200m OD on the summit of the Roseneath peninsula is a site marked on the OS map as 'Clach MacKenny'. Here there is a triangulation marker set into what may be a greatly denuded burial cairn of about 10m diameter. Attached to or adjoining the cairn is a stone and turf dyke partly revetted with stone, which curves southwards and encloses a 20 x 16m oval area lying approximately N-S. The dyke is not continuous but in parts is 1m broad, has steeply sloping sides, and stands 0.75-1m high internally. Attached to the narrower S end is an oval area about 8 x 3m internally, aligned approximately E-W and enclosed by a similar but narrower dyke. Because of the vegetation it is impossible to determine whether the two dykes are bonded, but as the shared wall is broader, it suggests that they are contiguous. Another oval enclosure, 12 x 5m, also aligned E-W and similarly enclosed by a turf and stone dyke, lies 8m to the S. Rushes and rank grass heavily engulf the floors of the two smaller enclosures and the S end of the large enclosure. An 8m length of the dyke on the W side of the main enclosure is missing, and in the centre, which is filled with rushes, are two holes or pits, one circular, 2m in diameter, and one oval, 2 x 5m.

A march dyke, extending along the summit of the peninsula on the W side of the site, may have been the destination of stones which came from the missing W dyke and possibly the centre pits.

The site has a magnificent outlook of nearly 360o. To the NW it overlooks Dun Daraich in Glen Finart (DES 1998, 18). To the SE, Dumbarton Rock and Carman Fort above Cardross are both visible. The Clach MacKenny site could therefore have been utilised as a signalling point.

Sponsor: Cowal Archaeological and Historical Society.

E B Rennie 2001