Craighead Hill
Dun (Iron Age)
Site Name Craighead Hill
Classification Dun (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 40890
Site Number NS20SW 11
NGR NS 22267 01482
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40890
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Dailly
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NS20SW 11 2227 0147.
(NS 2227 0147) Dun (NR)
OS 6" map (1971)
A small dun (RCAHMS MS, visited 1955) occupies the summit of a prominent crag-and-tail rock about 350 yds WNW of the Ordnance Survey triangulation station on Craighead Hill. The summit, situated towards the E end of the rock, has been enclosed by a stout boulder-faced wall, now heavily ruined and all that can be seen are a number of large, set boulders, some as much as 4ft 6ins in length, belonging to the outer face. Probing the stony core suggests that the wall was not less than 8ft thick. The roughly rectangular area enclosed measures externally 67ft E-W by 49ft transversely. There are slight indications of what may have been a narrow entrance on the E side, but the interior is featureless.
J Smith 1895
The site commands extensive views to N, W and SW but is overlooked on the E. The flat-topped oval summit area measures overall 15.5m E-W by 11.5m transversely.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 16 November 1959
The remains of this dun are slight and generally as described. The original form and thickness of the wall cannot be deduced on the now level, turf-covered summit.
Visited by OS (JRL) 28 March 1977.
Field Visit (6 September 1955)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
Reference (1957)
This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).
Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.
Field Visit (September 1982)
Craighead Hill NS 222 014 NS20SW 11
A roughly rectangular dun, measuring about 20m by 15m over all, is situated on a rocky knoll on the NW slopes of Craighead Hill. The wall has been extensively robbed, but at the E end, where the outer face can be traced for a distance of 9.3m, it is spread to a maximum thickness of 3.3m.
RCAHMS 1983, visited September 1982
(Smith 1895, 206; NMRS, AYD/4/1-2).
