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Largs, Castle Hill

Fort (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Largs, Castle Hill

Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) Cockmalane; Gogo Water

Canmore ID 41166

Site Number NS25NW 2

NGR NS 21565 58800

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/41166

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council North Ayrshire
  • Parish Largs
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Cunninghame
  • Former County Ayrshire

Archaeology Notes

NS25NW 2 21565 58800.

(NS 2155 5880) Fort (NR)

OS 6" map (1964)

A fort, measuring 190ft by 120ft, occupies the summit of Castle Hill, a prominent hillock.

Visible on AP's (CPE/Scot/UK 261: 4240-1).

D Christison 1893; J Smith 1895

Castle Hill is a sub-oval, rocky knoll around the perimeter of which are traces of a stone rampart, best preserved on the S where it is 1.0m high and 2.0m wide. On the NE, W and S sides of the hill are steep natural slopes and there is a gully on the E. At the S end of the fort, at the base of the natural slope, there is a stretch of ditch about 40.0m long at the E end of which there appears to be the remains of a possible hut circle, about 6.0m in diameter, outlined by a slight earth-and-stone bank. A water-worn gully on the counterscarp of the ditch gives the false impression of a second rampart here. The most likely place for an entrance is on the NE.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 27 October 1964

A fort, generally as described. The rampart is only extant around the weak S perimeter, but on the W side a distinct trench-line for a wall base remains. The interior is rocky and featureless, and the 'hut circle' feature is merely a fortuitous swelling confused by the outer ditch terminal (upcast?) The single entrance in the NE is slightly staggered, and has an obvious winding approach.

Visited by OS (JRL) 1 January 1983.

Activities

Field Visit (13 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This site was included within the RCAHMS Emergency Survey (1942-3), an unpublished rescue project.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 (1 June 1952)

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.

Field Visit (30 September 2013 - 9 October 2013)

The N and W approaches to the castle are precipitous, with the summit circled on these sides by near vertical rock faces. To the NE, the slope becomes easier, sweeping down towards gradual fertile slopes overlooking the steeper banks of the Gogo Water.

The summit of the hill is sub-oval in plan, aligned roughly NNE-SSW and circled by a singular sunken and degraded rampart. At the weaker southern end of the site, the rampart is significantly better preserved. Although it can be tentatively traced around the whole of the summit, it is likely the rampart was always more substantial to the S and SE. In numerous places along the length of the rampart damage and erosion has been caused by the presence of livestock. Assessment of these areas provided no artefacts or evidence of construction techniques.

It seems likely the final slopes to the summit have been scarped and landscaped, with a large ditch excavated along the S and E perimeter.

The area enclosed by the rampart is undulating with no obvious areas of landscaping or construction. Although no sign of an entrance could be discerned, the most obvious location for this would be to the NE where the landscape is more forgiving.

Information from OASIS ID: addymana1-164026 (R Cameron) 2013

Note (19 July 2014 - 16 November 2016)

This fort is situated on a steep-sided hillock on the hillside dropping down to Largs on the S side of Gogo Glen. Oval on plan, it measures about 50m from NNE to SSW by 33m transversely (0.13ha) within a heavily robbed rampart, which forms a bank about 2m in thickness and 1m in external height around the S, but elsewhere is marked by little more than a robbing scar. The entrance is on the NE, opening onto a natural gully in this flank of the hillock. The rocky interior is featureless. An external ditch noted by most investigators at the foot of the hillock on the S is almost certainly a misidentification of a hollowed trackway that can be seen climbing the slope on this side of the fort, while others are braided into a complex pattern on the northern flank.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 16 November 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1242

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