Knockinculloch
Enclosure(S) (Period Unknown)
Site Name Knockinculloch
Classification Enclosure(S) (Period Unknown)
Alternative Name(s) Glenalla
Canmore ID 41573
Site Number NS30SW 4
NGR NS 3426 0051
NGR Description Centred at NS 3426 0051
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/41573
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Dailly
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NS30SW 4 3420 0050.
NS 3420 0050. The remains of a turf-banked enclosure circa 300 feet by 400 feet with an entrance in the SE and containing nine structures each of two chambers in the shape of the letter 'P' with curving tail at whose base is an entrance (D Christison 1892). There is no opening between the large and small chambers of each unit. The enclosing bank is irregular and vague in the north and east but attains a height of 0.7m in places.
RCAHMS (TS, 7 July 1955) interpret the site as a complex series of stockpens.
Visited by OS (JLD) 25 July 1956
These enclosures, which are all of similar size, are generally as described. The large chamber measures 18.0m NE-SE by 3.0m with the entrance at the bottom of the slope while the smaller chamber measures 6.0m by 5.0m. Only eight structures are visible and all are contained within the large enclosure which has abutting its inside edge four smaller enclosures. While the precise purpose of these features is not clear it seems unlikely that they are habitations since there is no level living area, nor do they appear to have been constructed of anything other than turf. The most likely explanation seems to be that put forward by the RCAHMS that they are probably stockpens.
Visited by OS (JP) 25 May 1976
The locational information given in the North Carrick List should read 500m NW of Glenalla.
Information from RCAHMS (CAA) 25 October 1991.
Field Visit (7 July 1955)
Turf Enclosures, Knockinculloch.
Christison’s plan in PSAS, xxvi, 177, is substantially correct, but a few minor alterations have been noted in the Commission’s copy of this volume. The most important error is that Christison failed to notice that each of the nine long and narrow compartments has an opening at the junction with the wing wall varying from 3 to 6 ft in width.
The wing wall must have been intended to help in driving stock in to the long compartment, and the whole thing is thus a series of stock pens. But there is no entrance between compartments A and B, and no obvious explanation of the curious lay-out of the site.
Visited by RCAHMS 7 July 1955.
Field Visit (September 1982)
Knockinculloch NS 342 005 NS30SW 4
Within an enclosure on the E spur of Knockinculloch, 50m NW of Glenalla, there are the remains of nine turf-built structures, possibly stock-pens.
RCAHMS 1983, visited September 1982
(Christison 1892).
