Balchriston
Dun (Iron Age)
Site Name Balchriston
Classification Dun (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Rancleugh Burn
Canmore ID 40957
Site Number NS21SE 8
NGR NS 25729 11176
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40957
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Kirkoswald
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NS21SE 8 25729 11176
(NS 2572 1116) Dun (NR)
OS 6" map (1971)
Dun, Balchriston: Its position on the elevated point of land between the junction of the Rancleugh Burn and a nameless burn, is cut off from level ground to the E by a broad gully, 12ft deep. This may represent an original ditch enlarged by natural drainage. The dun is in a ruinous condition but appears to have been circular on plan, and to have measured about 30ft in diameter within a stone wall 12ft thick. The core of the wall is composed of small stones and the few facings that are still visible in situ consist of massive blocks up to 4ft in length. The entrance was probably situated in the SSE arc, but Smith says that there was 'the appearance of a gateway on the north side.
J Smith 1895; RCAHMS MSS and plan, visited 1953.
Although it is difficult to obtain any precise measurements, the remains of the dun appear to be as described above. About 10.0m of the outer wall face is exposed to a height of some 0.3m on the S side; elsewhere the wall-faces are rather conjectural. The mound on which the dun is situated is about 4.0m high above the gully on the E side, and some 2.0m high on the W side. The entrance would appear to have been on the N side, as Smith suggested.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 10 March 1967
No change to the previous report. The promontory is now largely overgrown.
Visited by OS (JRL) 18 July 1977
Dun [NAT]
OS (GIS) MasterMap, April 2010.
Field Visit (28 May 1953)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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 (October 1982)
Balchriston NS 257 111 NS21SE 8
The overgrown remains of this dun occupy the top of a steep-sided knoll cut off from a promontory between two streams by a deep natural gully. The dun is circular, measuring about 15.5m over a wall spread to a thickness of up to 5.3m. The entrance lies on the NNE, and a band of rubble on the S, NW and N may indicate the presence of an outwork.
RCAHMS 1983, visited October 1982
(Smith 1895, 198; NMRS, AYD/2).
