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Hunterston Sands
Fish Trap(S) (Period Unassigned), Wall(S) (19th Century)
Site Name Hunterston Sands
Classification Fish Trap(S) (Period Unassigned), Wall(S) (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Fairlie Roads; Firth Of Clyde; Inner Clyde Estuary
Canmore ID 40665
Site Number NS15SE 27
NGR NS 1799 5230
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40665
- Council North Ayrshire
- Parish West Kilbride
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cunninghame
- Former County Ayrshire
Field Visit (20 September 2013)
A series of straight and curvilinear stone features are intermittently visible in the extensive intertidal zone known as Hunterston Sands. The straight features are old field walls; the curvilinear features appear to be mainly fish traps.
There are at least two late 18th or early 19th century field walls present on the sands, one of which extends from a junction (NS 18201 51837) of two surviving shore-edge fields for a distance of at least 300m to the WNW, where it is truncated by the sea. This wall has been well-built and both inner and outer facing stones as well as some core material remain in situ. The upper part of the wall has collapsed, leaving material strewn to either side. The second wall adjoins the NNE side of the first at a point (NS 17986 51943) about 190m from the present high tide line. This dyke, which extends N for a distance of 275m, appears to be in a much more ruinous condition than the first. However, the wall may simply have not been completed, a linear band of stone on the E side of the wall possibly representing unused building material.
The complex of fish traps comprises a several linear stony banks, spread to 1m in thickness and none now standing more than 0.4m in height, slighter curvilinear features and a V-shaped trap (NS 17970 52208). The relationship between the different components is unclear and they may well represent different phases or periods of construction.
At NS 17931 52423 there is an angular feature which may be the remains of an old shoreline consolidation scheme. It measures a total of about 470m in length comprising for the most part an intermittent stony bank, but the central section, for a distance of about 46m SSE and 46m NE respectively of the angle, is formed by at least eleven roughly circular dumps of stone each measuring about 3m in diameter. Amongst these piles of stone are bedded horizontally timbers.
This field visit was part of the SAMPHIRE partnership project between RCAHMS, Wessex Archaeology Coastal and Marine and The Crown Estate.
Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 20 September 2013.
