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Arran, Clauchlands, Dun Fionn

Fort (Prehistoric), Vitrified Stone (Prehistoric)

Site Name Arran, Clauchlands, Dun Fionn

Classification Fort (Prehistoric), Vitrified Stone (Prehistoric)

Canmore ID 40197

Site Number NS03SW 4

NGR NS 0464 3384

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40197

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council North Ayrshire
  • Parish Kilbride
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Cunninghame
  • Former County Buteshire

Archaeology Notes (1973 - 1977)

NS03SW 4 0464 3384

(NS 0464 3382) Dun Fionn (NR) (Fort) (NR)

OS 6" map, (1924)

On top of Dun Fionn, there is a round eminence which seems to have been a vitrified fort, such as abound in the N Highlands, though it is now concealed by soil and grass.

Source: J Headrick 1807.

Hardly a trace remains of this fort (Balfour 1910). McArthur (1873) describes the ruins of a wall, 3-5ft thick, running round the flat summit of the hill, and following its configuration, enclosing an area about 140ft in circumference. Balfour's dismissal of the suggestion that this fort is vitrified is probably sound (c/f An Cnap: NS04NW 2).

Sources: J McArthur 1873; J Balfour 1910; R McLellen 1970.

NS 0464 3384 A small oval fort situated on the edge of a vertical north facing cliff. It consists of an earth and stone bank, 0.6m high and spread to 3.0m enclosing an area 30.0m east-west by 10.0m. The bank has been mutilated on the east and north-east and although there is no entrance visible it was probably on this side. There are no facing stones and no sign of vitrifaction.

A probable annexe on the east side, 1.9m below the main enclosure, consists of a flat area 14.0m by 10.0m levelled into the slope. A defensive ditch, now partially silted, has been dug on this side where the approach is easiest. It is 15.0m long, 6.0m wide and 0.8m deep.

A series of natural bracken-covered terraces lie on the steep southerly hillslope; they vary in width from 4.0m to 15.0m and have clearly been cultivated, perhaps from prehistoric times. There is no evidence of agricultural features except for a modern head dyke crossing the lower of these terraces.

The name 'Dun Fionn' could not be confirmed locally.

This fort is similar in its size and situation to that on Bennan Head (NR92SE 3).

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (B S) 3 November 1977.

Activities

Note (8 July 2014 - 18 November 2016)

This small fort occupies the summit of a hillock on the eastern spur of the Clauchlands Hills, where the ground falls away precipitously on the NE to the rocky shore 160m below. Oval on plan, it measures 30m from E to W by no more than 10m transversely (0.02ha) within a grass-grown rampart only 0.6m in height and spread some 3m in maximum thickness. The position of the entrance is unknown, but the OS suggest it is probably on the E, opening onto a terrace measuring about 14m by 10m, which has been levelled into the slope below the rampart. This side, which is also the easiest line of approach, has been provided with an outwork lying beyond the terrace and comprising a ditch some 6m in breadth by 0.8m in depth. The interior of the fort is featureless.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 November 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1148

Note (29 October 2018)

The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.

HES Survey and Recording 29 October 2018

Field Visit (18 October 2019)

This fort, which stands on the east coast of Arran, occupies the summit and lower slopes of a hill that is characterised by sheer cliffs on the N and very steep slopes elsewhere. It comprises: a small summit enclosure; a larger enclosure well below the summit which is defined by up to three lines of defence; and, on the lower SE flank, a single thick bank the purpose of which and its relationship to the other earthworks is not known.

On the top of the hill there is an oval enclosure measuring about 30m from E to W by 12m transversely within a wall or rampart that has been reduced to a grass-grown stony bank up to 4.5m in thickness and 0.3m in maximum internal height. At the E end, this bank has been spread and its top levelled to accommodate an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar (NS03SW 182). Most of the bank along the N side of the summit is missing, either having slumped down the steep slope or fallen away completely with the eroding cliff-top. In the W part of the interior there is a semi-circular scarp that appears to cut into the foot of the enclosing bank on the N and NW. Measuring about 7m in overall diameter, it probably indicates the presence of a timber round-house. If so, then it must post-date the abandonment of the summit enclosure and the degradation of its defences. Immediately to the E of the summit enclosure (the easiest approach) is a second line of defence, which comprises a low bank measuring up to 4m in thickness but with a barely discernible internal height and, outside it, a steep-sided ditch at least 5m in breadth. On the N, both features have been lost in ground that has slumped towards the cliff-edge; on the S, neither feature appears to extend onto the SE flank of the hill.

The large enclosure below the summit is defined on the N and NE by cliffs and very steep natural slopes but elsewhere by up to three stony banks which, on the date of visit, were heavily obscured by dense bracken. Nevertheless, the inner bank appears to be complete, enclosing an area measuring some 120m from WNW to ESE by 55m transversely. It runs as a well-defined scarp from the very steep natural edge below the W end of the summit, obliquely down the SW flank, and across the SE slope to the top of the cliff-top on the E. There are two entrance gaps, on the SW and S respectively, both characterised by in-turned rampart terminals. By-and-large, the inner bank has been reduced to an outer-facing scarp measuring up to 4m long but at its E end there is a 21m length in which a low inner scarp is present and here the low bank measures up to 3m thick. A second and third line of defence, both reduced to outer-facing scarps, run from the cliff-edge on the E around to the entrance on the S. Both continue, but only the second bank reaches the entrance on the SW and it does not carry on beyond, possibly the ground here becomes steep and a second bank was deemed unnecessary.

What may be another line of defence takes the form of a bank which, except for its ENE end where it is 7m thick, has been reduced to an outer-facing scarp. It runs for a distance of about 110m across the broad SE flank of the hill to a shallow gully on the SW, where it turns NW and runs for a further 30m before petering out. It is not known whether the bank originally carried on further up the E side of the gully and there is no obvious gap that might have indicated the presence of an entrance. It might have been at the point on the S where the bank is overlain by a thick field boundary that has been reduced to a 3m thick and 0.7m high grass-grown bank. This bank is not depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Argyllshire 1864, Sheet CCXLV) but it is overlain, close to its southern end by a thicker bank still (NS03SW 180), which is also not shown.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording, (JRS, AMcC, LB) 18 October 2019.

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