An Dun, Glenamachrie
Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name An Dun, Glenamachrie
Classification Dun (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Clenamacrie
Canmore ID 23201
Site Number NM92NW 3
NGR NM 92865 28363
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23201
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Ardchattan And Muckairn (Argyll And Bute)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM92NW 3 9286 2836.
(NM 9286 2836) An Dun (NAT) Fort (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)
This dun is situated on the top of an isolated knoll. It was excavated in 1967 by the Lorn Archaeol Soc (1969) and the results of this are incorporated into the RCAHMS's report (RCAHMS 1975). Oval on plan, the dun measures about 29 by 21 metres within a wall of which little now remains other than a low grass-grown stony bank through which a few outer-facing stones protrude on the east and south-west. The entrance was in the SSE where the wall on either side was 2.5 metres thick. The entrance itself was 1.8 metres wide but there are no signs of its having been checked for a door. The wall reached its greatest thickness on the west side where it was up to 4.6 metres thick. The foundations of a small rectangular building, clearly secondary, can be seen in the western portion of the interior. The only relics recovered during the excavation were fragments of two flat rotary-querns which had been incorporated into the lower course of the dun wall.
Lorn Archaeol Soc 1969; RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1968.
The plan, size and construction suggest this is a fort rather than a dun. The name An Dun is still used locally.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (R D) 8 October 1969.
On the east side, and partly overlying the wall, there is possibly a secondary work comprising a circular enclosure about 11 metres internal diameter, with a wall spread of from 3 to 4 metres and a height of 0.2 metres. A break in the west arc may indicate the entrance.
Visited by OS (J L D) 25 April 1972.
Measured Survey (15 May 1966)
Surveyed with alidade and plane-table at 1mm:1ft. Redrawn in ink and published at the reduced scale of 1:1000 (RCAHMS 1975, fig. 46).
Field Visit (May 1968)
NM 928 283. This dun is situated 500 m ESE of Clenamacrie farmhouse, on the top of an isolated knoll on the S side of the public road through Glen Lonan. The following account and the plan (Fig.46) incorporate evidence revealed by excavation carried out in 1967 by the Lorn Archaeological Society (DES (1969), 9, and additional information from Mrs U V G Betts, who directed the excavation).
The dun is oval on plan, measuring about 29 m by 21 m within a wall which has consisted of a compact rubble core faced on either side with large boulders. Little now remains, however, except core material, appearing as a low grass-covered stony bank through which a few outer facing-stones protrude on the E and SW. On the SSE the wall was 2'5 m thick on either side of the entrance, but it increased to as much as 4.6 m thick on the W. The entrance was 1·8 m wide, and the side-walls of the passage showed no indication of having been checked for a door.
Within the W half of the interior there are the foundations of a small rectangular building, which is clearly secondary. The only relics recovered during the excavation were fragments of two flat rotary-querns, which had been incorporated in the dun wall.
RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1968.
Note (2 December 2014 - 18 May 2016)
The remains of this small fortification are situated on a steep-sided knoll in the bottom of Glen Lonan. Oval on plan, it measures 29m from ENE to WSW by 21m transversely within a wall largely reduced to a band of rubble from which a few outer facing-stones protrude on the ENE and WSW. Excavation has shown that the wall varies between 2.5m in thickness to either side of the entrance on the SE, to as much as 4.6m on the W; fragments of two rotary quernstones were recovered from the wall. The only feature visible within the interior is a small rectangular building on the NW, while the excavatior identified two small structures within the rubble of the wall (Betts 1969).
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2595
