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Latitude: 54.7835 / 54°47'0"N
Longitude: -5.0187 / 5°1'7"W
OS Eastings: 205980
OS Northings: 547357
OS Grid: NX059473
Mapcode National: GBR FJZ2.3X3
Mapcode Global: WH1RV.W196
Entry Name: Little Float,fort 630m SW of
Scheduled Date: 15 October 1990
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM4779
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: fort (includes hill and promontory fort)
Location: Stoneykirk
County: Dumfries and Galloway
Electoral Ward: Stranraer and the Rhins
Traditional County: Wigtownshire
The monument is a fort of the Iron Age situated on the promontory at Dove Cave Head. The steep-sided promontory has been defended by two lines of defence. The inner line consists of two ramparts and external ditches. The innermost rampart is 4.5m thick and up to 0.6m high. Its ditch survives as a shallow scoop. The other rampart is up to 6m thick and 1.2m high.
Its ditch is 4.8m wide and 0.5m deep. The second line of defence consists of a rampart and ditch 32m out side the inner line. This survives as a 15m length of ditch, 4.7m wide and 0.9m deep, and traces of rampart up to 3.5m thick and 0.3m high.For the rest of its course it presumably survives as a totally filled-in ditch. The area defended by the inner line of defence measures 27.5m by 19m.
The entrance is at the E end of the defences. The area to be scheduled includes the fort and an area around it within which traces of activity associated with its use may befound. It respects the shape of the fort, measures a maximum of 120m N-S by a maximum of 90m transversely, as marked in red on the attached map.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance as a fort of the Iron Age which has the potential to enhance considerably our understanding of prehistoric settlement in the area. It is of particular importance because of the survival of a number of forts in the W Rhins; the study of this group has the potential to increase greatly our knowledge of the organisation of the prehistoric landscape.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NX 04 NE 13.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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