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Davie's Kirk

Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Fort (Period Unassigned), Structure (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Davie's Kirk

Classification Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Fort (Period Unassigned), Structure (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 66419

Site Number NY09SW 5

NGR NY 0474 9190

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/66419

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Kirkmichael (Nithsdale)
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Nithsdale
  • Former County Dumfries-shire

Archaeology Notes

NY09SW 5 0474 9190.

A deep ditch with clearly defined entrance, described by Truckell as 'an obvious promontory fort, at NY 047 917', is visible on A P's as a massive work cutting off the NE part of a plateau at NY 047 919. Feachem lists it under 'miscellaneous structures' at NY 047 919.

Sketch plan & section: aerial Photograph (CUCAP APU 81)

Visible on air photograph RAF 541/A/524/F20:4285-6

Information from OS (DA), 9 November 1966.

R W Feachem 1956; A E Truckell 1959

NY 0474 9190. A promontory fort consisting of a massive rampart and ditch protecting an area measuring 70.0m N-S by 50.0m E-W. No defences existed on the N, W and E of the fort. (A bank along the SE side is an old field bank.) A causeway across the ditch leads to a lowering of the rampart but this is not certainly original. There is a constructed approach to the summit of the fort on the SW. Half the interior is covered by rig cultivation, the remainder is featureless except for a modern structure near the centre.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (D W R) 10 October 1972

A promontory fort as previously described.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (T R G) 30 August 1977.

Activities

Reference (1957)

This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).

Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.

Note (28 May 2014 - 23 May 2016)

This fort occupies the N end of a raised plateau on the SE flank of Tawnaze Hill, and shields the E flank of a natural hollow that is known as Davie’s Kirk. Measuring about 70m from N to S by 50m transversely (0.25ha), the interior is largely defined by the steep natural scarps forming the edge of the plateau, but on the S a thick rampart some 45m in length, accompanied by an external ditch about 6m in breadth, blocks the easiest line of approach. A causeway across the ditch about 10m from the W margin of the plateau leads to a dip in the crest of the rampart and may mark the position of the entrance, though a terraced trackway can be seen climbing obliquely up this flank of the plateau and also provides access to the interior. Traces of rig cultivation are visible within the interior and a post-medieval field bank extends along the E margin of the plateau.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC0887

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