Castle Hill, Dalry

NS25SE 2 2859 5362

(NS 2859 5362) Fort (NR) (Site of)

OS 25" map (1967)

A fort occupies the 37 yards by 15 yards summit of Castle Hill, a dolerite stack with a maximum height of 60 feet. Its turf-covered surface was excavated by Smith in 1901-2.

J Smith 1919.

Walling, 9ft thick at base at point 'B' on Smith's plan was identified intermittently round or near the edge, and debris was strewn down the sides of the stack. The surface of the interior had been levelled with forced earth and was partially paved on the south. Above this paving was an occupation layer which produced relics, some of them Roman, of metal, glass, bone etc. On the evidence of these finds Smith deduced two periods of occupation - 1st to 2nd century AD and 8th to 9th Century AD - but at least some of the relics he attributed to the latter period have since been identified as belonging to the former, e.g. the native hilt-guard (S Piggott 1950) and the Roman dragonesque brooch (A S Robertson 1970).

An internal building was suggested by remnants of walling overlying the surface paving at 'D' and 'E' on the plan, and in the vicinity of some stones about point 'F' fragments of Samian ware were found in association with an axe-head and a spear-head of iron.

The water from a spring at the foot of the stack is piped to the farmhouse of South Howrat, whose name may derive from the rock: "Fortified Hill".

J G Scott 1966; J Curle 1932.

Finds from the excavation are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS), donated by Smith in 1931 (Acc Nos: HH 338-80) and Hunterian Museum, Glasgow (A.1928.14) (Hunterian Accession Book, visited by OS (JLD) 5 September 1956).

Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1931.

Castle Hill has been almost completely quarried away. All that remains are two isolated pillars of rock, the the largest about 20ft high and 3.0m by 1.0m on top. There is no trace of the fort.

Visited by OS (DS), 4 September 1956.

Previous field report confirmed.

Visited by OS (JTT), 27 October 1964.