Ardmarnock, Caisteal Aoidhe
Dun (Prehistoric), Vitrified Stone (Prehistoric)
Site Name Ardmarnock, Caisteal Aoidhe
Classification Dun (Prehistoric), Vitrified Stone (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 39920
Site Number NR97SW 2
NGR NR 9092 7103
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/39920
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilfinan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
Field Visit (16 September 1942)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Emergency Survey (1942-3), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, vary from short notes to lengthy and full descriptions and are available to view online with contemporary sketches and photographs. The original typescripts, manuscripts, notebooks and photographs can also be consulted in the RCAHMS Search Room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 10 December 2014.
Field Visit (1972 - 1976)
NR97SW 2 9092 7103
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (IA) 31 October 1972 and (BS) 7 October 1976.
Field Visit (May 1985)
This spectacular vitrified dun and annexe occupy a tidal island off the E shore of Loch Fyne some 2km S of Ardmarnock; the rocky shingle-covered spit between the island and the shore may have been partly improved and heightened to assist access, and there are some large carefully-placed boulders near the landward end. Some impression of the conflagration that consumed this timber-laced dun may be gauged by the large lumps of vitrified material that have rolled from the dun wall on to the spit.
The dun measures about 11m in diameter within a wall some 3.5m thick, but only on the S do stretches of both inner and outer facing-stones survive. Vitrifaction has been most intense on the N and SW, where large quantities of fused core material are visible. On the NE the rubble of the wall still stands to a height of at least 3m above ground level outside the dun. Fallen debris has obscured the position of the entrance.
The annexe, which is situated on the N, measures about 12m by 8m and has been defended by a timber-laced wall probably as much as 1.2m in thickness. A stretch of outer facing-stones about 1.7m beyond and 2m below the vitrified material further emphasises the impressive nature of the original wall-construction. There are only slight traces of the wall on the SE flank, where it occupied a rocky crest line, and the entrance to the annexe may have been at this point.
RCAHMS 1988, Visited May 1985.
