The Doons
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name The Doons
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 65014
Site Number NX87NE 7
NGR NX 8698 7699
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/65014
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Kirkpatrick Irongray
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
NX87NE 7 8698 7699
(NX 8698 7699) The Doons (NR)
OS 6" map (1957)
Fort, 'The Doons': The fort on the summit of Doon Hill, measures 190' N-S by 214' within a steeply scarped bank, above which there seems to have been a stony rampart, now supplanted by a stone wall. The scarp is well-defined all round, except to the S, where it is only c. 1' high; passing round to the W, it rises to 7' or 8' in height, maintaining this height to the E end. In the interior rises from within the rampart to a central area 7'-8' higher.
RCAHMS 1914, visited 1911
This fort is generally as described. An internal quarry ditch is visible and the entrance is on the S. The rocky interior is featureless.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (DWR), 19 November 1973
'The Doons' (L Symondson, Barnsoul, Shawhead) ) is as described in the previous information.
Surveyed at 1:10 000.
Visited by OS (TRG), 30 May 1977.
Note (20 December 2013 - 23 May 2016)
This fort is situated within an old plantation ring on the E end of the broad summit of Doon Hill. Oval on plan, it measures about 65m from E to W by 57m transversely (0.28ha) within a rampart that stands up to 1m high internally and presents an stony scarp up to 2.4m in height externally. Frederick Coles describes a terrace some 3.5m in breadth at the foot of this scarp (Coles 1893, 111-12), probably representing traces of an external ditch, though no mention is made of such a feature by Alexander Curle when he visited in 1911 (RCAHMS 1914, 169, no.318); in 1973, however, when it was re-surveyed by the OS, the surveyor noted an internal quarry ditch and identified an entrance on the S.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0318
