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Monk Wood Mains
Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Monk Wood Mains
Classification Dun (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Mote Knowe
Canmore ID 41665
Site Number NS31SW 3
NGR NS 33779 13942
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/41665
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Maybole
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NS31SW 3 3377 1394.
(NS 3377 1394) Mote Knowe (NR) Tower (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map (1910)
The foundation course of an old circular tower occupies the summit of Mote Knowe.
Name Book 1856
Dun, Mote Knowe: On the summit of an isolated knoll on the left bank of the River Doon are some slight remains of a circular, stone-walled structure, 72ft in external diameter. The wall has consisted of a core of small stones with external, and probably internal, facing-stones of large boulders. At least one course of external facing is still preserved around the NW side. The wall's width is uncertain, but the core suggests that it was between 10 - 15ft. A gap in the ESE may represent an original entrance.
RCAHMS Marginal Lands Survey TS, visited 1953; R W Feachem 1963; D Christison 1893
A dun, generally as described. The walling encloses an area of about 19.0m in diameter; the entrance is not apparent. The name 'Mote Knowe' is not known locally.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (JLD) 8 December 1955 and (RD) 13 September 1968
(NS 3377 1394) Dun (NR)
OS 1:10000 map (1978)
The dun, tree-planted and scrub-covered, shows dislodged facing-stones around the NW where the wall attains a maximum height of 0.5m. In the level interior, a crude apparently recent excavation measuring some 2.0m by 1.5m and 0.5m deep shows nothing significant. No information about this was ascertained locally.
Visited by OS (JRL) 10 October 1980
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This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project.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.
Field Visit (August 1982)
Monkwood Mains NS 337 139 NS31SW 3
This dun occupies the summit of a steep-sided knoll on the NW bank of the River Doon, 600m SE of Monkwood Mains farmhouse; roughly circular, it measures 14.5m in diameter within a wall now spread to a maximum thickness of 4.5m.
RCAHMS 1983, visited August 1982
(Name Book, Ayr, No. 46, pp. 101, 102; Christison 1893, 386-7; Smith 1895, 177; NMRS, AYD/25/1-2).
