Dun Castle Dounie
Dun Castle Dounie (also called Creag Mhór) occupies the top of a rocky dome, which is at the northeast end of the ridge of "Creag Mhór", about 1.5 kilometers southwest of the Ardnoe point over the Jurassic Sound and Loch Crinan , near Kilmartin in Scotland .
With an unusually irregular ( harp-like ) floor plan, the dun measures around 18 by 14 m. The wall has not survived only in the northwest. It varies in thickness from 3.8 m in the southwest to 1.6 m. The greatest thickening is on the west side of the entrance, which is to the north. The wall rises up to a height of 2.6 m in the southwest. It has 14 stone layers there. However, the inner slope is sometimes reduced to the ground level. In general, the wall is less well preserved on the inside than on the outside. In the southwest there is a completely straight dividing point, which is clearly visible from the outside, and extends vertically from the foundation to the top of the preserved masonry. It also seems to penetrate the wall. The sizes of the stones used differ at the point of separation, which apparently refers to a two-phase construction period.
A strong internal facing was added to the wall along the east side . It is interrupted by two niches , the rear walls of which are formed by the original (uncovered) masonry. A large slab delimits the northern niche. It may have been the lowest layer of a cantilevered vault roof over the approximately 1.8 m long niche. In the south wall of the niche is a small wall niche (English aumbry). In the strong southeast bend of the dun, in the thickest part of the wall, there is another large room. The depth of its east side is in turn formed by the strong internal facing. However, the thickening of the east wall is undoubtedly almost original in nature. However, it cannot only have served as the basis for an unproven staircase that began a little east of the entrance and rose to the top of the wall.
The well-preserved entrance was originally 2.1 m wide, which is unusually wide for a dun. The passage was reduced to a width of about one meter by adding a correspondingly thick wall on the west side. The narrowing of the entrance may have taken place at the same time as the facing of the east wall. Apart from a protruding rock in the north, the interior of the dun is absolutely bland.
literature
- M. Campbell & M. Sandeman: Mid Argyll: an archaeological survey, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 95 1964
Web links
- Entry on Dun Castle Dounie in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database
Coordinates: 56 ° 4 ′ 39.1 ″ N , 5 ° 35 ′ 28 ″ W.