Morag's Fairy Glen

NS 16446 75657 On the southern outskirts of Dunoon the Berry Burn runs through a deep gorge known as Morag’s Fairy Glen. At NS 16446 75657, on the edge of a steep S bank which drops down to the river in stages, stands a tall, roughly square stone tower 3.1 x 2.75m externally. The construction is of large stone blocks at the corners with extensive filling of smaller thin slabs of stone, all mortared. The longer, burn-side wall is oriented 60degrees E of N, roughly parallel to the burn at that point. The tower is estimated to be about 9m high, is unroofed but stands up to near roof height, and had three-storeys as evidenced by two rows of beam sockets in each of the N and S walls. The tower may have been a folly.

The W wall has the only entrance, a door 0.7m wide and 1.75m high. There is no external or internal staircase, so that the upper storeys must have been accessed, if at all, by ladder internally through the floors. There is a small square window in the centre of this wall at the top storey. Its width, estimated as for all the upper inaccessible windows by projecting the lines of the sides downwards, is c0.6m. From the outside it appears as a horizontal slit.

In the N wall is a large splayed window with a stone lintel above. It is 0.85m high and 0.65m wide inside, narrowing to 0.48m outside. The sill is 1.35m above the floor level. A long narrow upright stone has been cemented in vertically as a support at a later date. Above it is a small window c0.55m wide and of greater height in the second storey.

The E wall has a long narrow splayed window 0.95m above the floor. It is 1.1m high and 0.35m wide inside, narrowing to 0.2m. An unusual feature is a quadrilateral cavity in the sill at least 0.3m deep constructed with sides parallel to the window edges. It is 0.25m long parallel to the left and right sides and 0.27m and 0.18m perpendicular. There is a small window c0.5m wide and of greater height that straddles the second and third storeys.

The S wall has a small blocked up window c0.35m wide and c0.7m high in the second storey and a window near the top of the wall roughly 0.3 x 0.7m.

Outside, two short (

David Dorren and Nina Henry, 2013

(Source: DES)