Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground

This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.

Dun Mac Samhainn,dun

A Scheduled Monument in Mid Argyll, Argyll and Bute

We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.

Coordinates

Latitude: 56.1452 / 56°8'42"N

Longitude: -5.5061 / 5°30'22"W

OS Eastings: 182293

OS Northings: 700258

OS Grid: NM822002

Mapcode National: GBR DDSG.W3W

Mapcode Global: WH0HQ.DS8W

Entry Name: Dun Mac Samhainn,dun

Scheduled Date: 9 December 1992

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM5474

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: dun

Location: Kilmartin

County: Argyll and Bute

Electoral Ward: Mid Argyll

Traditional County: Argyllshire

Description

The monument consists of a dun situated on a knoll in a forestry plantation, immediately N of the track from Kilmartin to Ormaig and E of a disused quarry.

The dun is sub-triangular on plan and measures 11m by 9.5m within a stone wall (reduced by robbing to little more than a band of core material about 2.5m thick). A short stretch of the outer face remains in position on the SW. The entrance lay either on the NE or E. A terrace on the NE may have been enclosed by an outwork. In the interior an arc of recent walling abuts the dun wall on the SW.

The area to be scheduled measures 70m from ENE to WSW by 45m transversely, to include the dun, its outwork and an area around in which associated remains may survive, as marked in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it has the potential to provide information about the nature and structure of later prehistoric society. Few duns have been excavated in Argyll but evidence increasingly suggests that many were occupied, if not built, during the later first millennium AD, a period about which very little is know but in which the area around Kilmartin must have been very significant, due to the proximity of Dunadd.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM 80 SW 4.

Reference:

RCAHMS (1988) Inventory for Mid Argyll and Cowal, No. 290.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Other nearby scheduled monuments

AncientMonuments.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact AncientMonuments.uk for any queries related to any individual ancient or schedued monument, planning permission related to scheduled monuments or the scheduling process itself.

AncientMonuments.uk is a Good Stuff website.