Ancient Monuments

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Dun nan Gall, dun

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

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Coordinates

Latitude: 56.5976 / 56°35'51"N

Longitude: -6.2361 / 6°14'10"W

OS Eastings: 140077

OS Northings: 753108

OS Grid: NM400531

Mapcode National: GBR BCZ8.Y2N

Mapcode Global: WGYBZ.5FPK

Entry Name: Dun nan Gall, dun

Scheduled Date: 10 February 2003

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM10564

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 of prehistoric date, visible as upstanding remains, which lies on the summit of a rocky knoll about 850m S of Croig farmhouse.

The dun is roughly rectangular in shape and measures internally about 26m from NW to SE by 13.5m transversely. The NE flank of the knoll is protected by sheer rock-faces up to 9m high, but on the SW the cliffs diminish in height, and in the middle of that side grassy slopes offer comparatively easy access to the summit.

There are no traces of defences on the NE, where the natural strength of the knoll rendered aritificial protection unnecessary; but on all other sides the dun has been defended by a dry-stone wall, now reduced to a low grass-grown band of core material not more than 3m thick, in which several stones of both faces can still be seen. The entrance is situated on the NW, the wall terminals being staggered on each side, presumably because the margin of the summit severely indented at this point; a modern dry-stone wall has been built across its mouth.

Duns are fortified settlement sites of Iron Age date (500 BC to AD 500).

The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material is likely to survive. It is irregular in plan with maximum dimensions of 70m NW-SE and 53m trnasversely 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 NM 45 SW 3.

Bibliography:

RCAHMS (1980) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll excluding the early medieval and later monuments of Iona), Edinburgh, 111-12, No. 212.

SRC SMR (1995) 'Argyll & Bute District, new sites added to the SMR, 1 November 1994 to 31 October 1995', Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1995, Strathclyde Regional Council SMR, 60.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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