Tynron Doon is a multivallate Iron Age
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
outside the village of
Tynron
Tynron is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland, lying in a hollow of the Shinnel Water, from Moniaive.
At Tynron Doon there can be seen the ditches and ramparts of a Roman Iron Age hillfort.
The name Tyn ...
in
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It was occupied on and off from the 1st millennium BC until the 16th century, when an
L shaped tower house stood there. Tynron Doon lies at the southern end of the
Scaur hills.
Description
The original site is thought to be a multivallate
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
dating to the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, of much the same plan as the modern (20th C.) remains.
The site is itself a spur hill of
Auchengibbert Hill, and reaches in height. The summit has an approximately oval plateau, of in extent. The fort was built in a natural defensive position defended by steep slopes on the north, south and east sides. The western approach was made defensive by the addition of three ditches and two ramparts, with some of the ditches rock-cut.
In the 15th century the hill was the site of one of nine beacons maintained by the Sheriffs of Nithsdale and Annandale.
In the late medieval era (c. 16th C.) an L-shaped tower house was built in the northwest corner of the central area, with floor plan of roughly ; a smaller extension to the northwest is speculated to have been a tower stair.
The tower house is thought to have been demolished between 1700 and 1750, used to build the church in Tynron (Tynron Kirk) and a
barmkin
Barmkin, also spelled barmekin or barnekin, is a Scots word which refers to a form of medieval and later defensive enclosure, typically found around smaller castles, tower houses, pele towers, and bastle houses in Scotland and the north of Engl ...
wall fortification enclosing the summit may have been added in around the same period.
A hut circle dating to the 18th/19th C. is thought to have been a shepherd's
bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Sco ...
.
References
Sources
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External links
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Hill forts in Scotland
History of Dumfries and Galloway
Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfriesshire
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