Ancient Monuments

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Kellan Wood, dun

A Scheduled Monument in Oban South and the Isles, Argyll and Bute

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Coordinates

Latitude: 56.5017 / 56°30'6"N

Longitude: -6.0165 / 6°0'59"W

OS Eastings: 152923

OS Northings: 741636

OS Grid: NM529416

Mapcode National: GBR CCJJ.NXR

Mapcode Global: WGZDL.KV62

Entry Name: Kellan Wood, dun

Scheduled Date: 10 February 2003

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM10696

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: dun

Location: Kilninian and Kilmore

County: Argyll and Bute

Electoral Ward: Oban South and the Isles

Traditional County: Argyllshire

Description

The monument comprises a dun visible as upstanding remains. Duns are fortified settlements of Iron Age date (around 500 BC to AD 500).

The monument occupies the summit of an elongated knoll near the E margin of Kellan Wood at about 40m OD. At the SE end of the knoll there is a precipitous rock-face, and on the NE flank the ground falls steeply over grassy slopes to the right bank of a nameless stream 9m below. On all other sides, however, the knoll may be approached with relative ease.

The dun is roughly oval on plan and measures about 13.5m NNW-SSE by 10.5m transversly, within a severely reduced wall. A number of inner and outer facing stones can be seen on the NW, where the wall is about 3.6m thick, and the inner face stands 0.7m high in three courses. Elsewhere the wall has been reduced to a low moss-covered band of tumbled core material.

There are two possible entrances, one on the N, indicated by a slight gap in the rubble, and the other on the SSE, where a natural gully leads up onto the summit of the knoll. The interior is obscured by a mass of wall debris. On the outer edge of the roughly triangular shelf NW of the dun, there are traces of an outer wall.

The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material is likely to survive. It is sub-oval in shape, with maximum dimension of 62m NNW-SSE by 47m transversely, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to an understanding of later prehistoric defended settlement and economy. Its importance is increased by its proximity to other monuments of potentially contemporary date.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM54SW 5.

References:

County Council of Argyll (1914) LIST OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND HISTORIC BUILDINGS IN THE COUNTY OF ARGYLL, [s.l.], 2.

RCAHMS (1980a) ARGYLL: AN INVENTORY OF THE MONUMENTS VOLUME 3: MULL, TIREE, COLL AND NORTHERN ARGYLL (EXCLUDING THE EARLY MEDIEVAL AND LATER MONUMENTS OF IONA), Edinburgh, 113-14, No. 218.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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