Ardifuir
Galleried Dun (Iron Age)
Site Name Ardifuir
Classification Galleried Dun (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Ardifuar
Canmore ID 39140
Site Number NR79NE 2
NGR NR 78934 96918
NGR Description Centre
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/39140
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmartin
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR79NE 2 7893 9691.
(NR 7893 9690) Fort (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)
The unique dun at Ardifuir is situated in a non-defensive situation, overlooked by high ground on three sides.
Excavated by Christison (1905) in 1904, the structure has an inner diameter of 65' within a wall 10' thick at base, showing a slight batter, decreasing to 7' at the present height of 10'. The inner face has a scarcement 5' above ground level, and 12"-18" wide. The dun embodies a wide entrance with a cell on its W side, and a staircase leading to an upper passage.
A wall of large slabs set on edge about 2' high runs eccentrically round 2/3 of the interior. The interspace varies from 3'-9' in width and is filled with small stones and earth.
Finds from the excavation included a polished stone axe, stone discs, a bronze ring, some fragments of grey, coarse pottery - possibly 2nd century AD, and a fragment of a 2nd century AD decorated Samian bowl.
In an earlier excavation carried out by Mapleton (1870) large quantities of animal bones were found.
(NB: Miss Campbell's Inventory (1964) erroneously includes finds from Duntrune fort.)
R J Mapleton 1870; D Christison 1905; J Curle 1932; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964; A Young 1964; A S Robertson 1970.
A galleried dun, situated in a non-defensive position, generally as described. Dun visible on air photograph 72.024:123.
Visited by OS (DWR) 2 May 1973.
Despite the evidence for occupation in the 2nd century AD, the non-defensive situation of this enigmatic work indicates the possibilities of its having been a home- stead or settlement comparable with those in Glen Lyon (NN44SE) and Glen Garry (NN86NW), Perthshire. Furthermore, comparison with some Irish cashels (eg Staigue Fort, Co Kerry) could indicate a later occupation, though not necessarily monastic.
Some structural features (the wide entrance with wide door-checks, the relatively narrow wall, and low 'scarcement') are not compatible with a normal dun.
Visited by OS (JLD) 31 May 1973.
Finds include Early Christian material, although the dun itself probably dates from the 1st-2nd century AD.
L R Laing 1975.
This galleried dun is as described in the previous information.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (BS) 1 February 1977.
Antiquarian Observation (1850 - 1901)
Drawings by Christian MacLagan of sites across Scotland in the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Collection at HES.
Field Visit (June 1981)
Occupying a position of little natural strength on the left bank of the Ardifuir Burn, immediately to the NW of the steading of Ardifuir, there is an exceptionally well-preserved dun, (Campbell and Sandeman 1964), which was excavated in 1904 as part of a programme of research carried out by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the following account incorporates details from the published report (Christison 1905). Circular on plan, the dun measures about 19m in internal diameter within a carefully built drystone wall about 3.5m in greatest thickness. Almost the entire circuit of both the inner and outer faces can still be traced, the latter, which displays a conspicuous batter, attaining a maximum height on the NW, where it stands some 3 m above the level of the ground outside, in about twenty courses. Both faces are constructed of regularly shaped or carefully selected blocks brought to a level course by small pinnings, and it may be this feature which has ensured the survival of the monument in so handsome a condition. The inner wall-face rises 2.6m at most above the present level of the interior, but at an average height of 1.8m it is stepped back to form a ledge or scarcement, now best preserved on the ENE, where it is 0.3m wide. The excavation plan suggests that the scarcement gradually decreased in width towards the SW, but since it also shows the feature continuing across the entrance to a mural staircase on the WNW, which is contradicted by the evidence of the excavation photographs, it may be necessary to reject this testimony.
The entrance, which is situated on the WSW, has been checked for a door at a distance of about 1.8m from the line of the outer face; the passage measures 2m in width at its outer end and 2.8m at the inner, the depth of the rebates in the N and S side-walls being 0.6m and 0.45m respectively. There is no trace in either passage-wall of a bar-hole or slot for securing and housing a wooden draw-beam. Lying athwart the passage at the rebate is a massive sill-stone, originally measuring 1.8m in length, but now broken, which rises about 0.3 m above the paved floor.
A doorway about 0.8m wide and 0.75m high, with a sill set 0.6m above the entrance paving, gives access through the inner portion of the S passage-wall to a flight of four steps leading down to an intramural cell; oval on plan, it measures about 1m by 0.8m and may originally have been as much as 2m high, its drystone walls rising vertically to a level about 1m above the cell-floor before corbelling inwards.
To the N of the entrance on the W side of the dun there is an opening on the inner face of the wall to provide access for an intramural stair; thirteen steps rise from rather below present floor level to the top of the wall; at this point there is a gap and then a further two steps (three in 1904) rise a little higher. The stairway appears to run at a slight angle to the outer and inner faces of the dun wall.
Eccentrically positioned within the interior there was a penannular wall composed of orthostatic slabs and smaller pinnings, which served as a revetment to a mass of earth and stones filling the space between it and the inner face of the wall; the present height of the revetting wall does not exceed 0.8 m, and the subcircular internal area thus defined measures about 15m from N to S. The purpose of this feature cannot be determined.
The excavation, which took place between 5 May and 13 June 1904, 'consisted mainly in clearing out debris 4 or 5 feet in depth from the interior'; apart from the strip of paving which extended for a distance of 2.7m from the entrance, no structural features, such as hearths, paving or post-holes appear to have been noted in the process. The small finds recovered included a polished stone axe, four whetstones, a quartzite polisher, a stone mould, a sandstone whorl, perforated discs, a crucible fragment, a bronze ring, and a fragment of samian ware (probably datable to the second century AD). A rim sherd of a greyish white ware, formerly thought to be the lip of a Roman dish, has been identified as a fragment of E-ware (see Introduction). There is no record of any stratification. The finds are now in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
RCAHMS 1988, visited June 1981.
Note (18 May 2020)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.
