Stevenston Sands
Armlet(S), Arrowhead(S), Gouge, Knife(S), Ring(S), Scraper (Tool)(S)
Site Name Stevenston Sands
Classification Armlet(S), Arrowhead(S), Gouge, Knife(S), Ring(S), Scraper (Tool)(S)
Alternative Name(s) Ardeer Sands
Canmore ID 41066
Site Number NS24SE 20
NGR NS 28 41
NGR Description NS c. 28 41
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/41066
- Council North Ayrshire
- Parish Stevenston
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cunninghame
- Former County Ayrshire
NS24SE 20 c. 28 41
Finds from Ardeer Sands (name NS 282 411): flint arrowheads (Acc Nos: AD 1696-1710); flint (ABA 99, BMC 226 & 274); scrapers (AB 1869-72); fragment of Ne 'B' pot (BMC 347); jet fragments (FN 51-2, FN 171); bronze strap end (BMC 292); bronze gouge (BMC 291); miscellaneous (BMC 1-367); part of Iron Age sword blade (BMC 371).
(Undated) information in NMAS Accession List.
A hammer-stone and a pierced shale disc from Stevenston Sands are in Glasgow Art Galleries and Museum (04.153 a and h respectively).
Typescript list of Ayrshire material in GAGM (undated).
A notched tool of Tardenosian type was found on the Ardeer Sands, northwest of the River Irvine.
A flint spearhead from Ardeer Sands was donated to the NMAS in 1927 by D A Boyd, St Clair, Saltcoats (Acc. No: AD 1526).
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1927; A D Lacaille 1930; A D Lacaille 1937.
Ardeer Sands are now occupied by the ICI Explosive Works. Unbuilt portions of the sandhills were perambulated, but no further discoveries were made.
Visited by OS (JLD) 10 September 1956
A number of relics from the Stevenston sands (centred NS 28 41), which stretch southeast from the town to the mouth of the River Irvine, mainly from the collection of J Smith, Dalry, are in the NMAS. They include:
54 flint arrowheads (48 barbed and tanged, 5 leaf-shaped, 1 lop-sided); 167 scrapers; 24 knives; a Late Bronze Age socketed gouge; part of a Bronze Age vitreous paste bead; a flat bead of dark blue glass; shale rings, armlets etc; 2 Romano-British Brooches; a bronze pin and the head of a second; an early 10th century, 'Whitby' type Anglo-Saxon bronze strap end; a probably 14th century bronze ring brooch.
J Smith 1895; J G Callander 1933; J M Coles 1962; L Laing 1973.