<< Our Photo Pages >> Ardconnel Hill Fort - Hillfort in Scotland in West Dunbartonshire
Submitted by AstroGeologist on Thursday, 02 May 2019 Page Views: 2870
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Ardconnel Hill Fort Alternative Name: Sheep Hill Fort, Auchentorlie HillFortCountry: Scotland County: West Dunbartonshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Dumbarton Nearest Village: Milton
Map Ref: NS4348074400
Latitude: 55.937095N Longitude: 4.507359W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Hillfort in West Dunbartonshire
Ardconnel Hill Fort (Sheephill Fort) is a double period Hill Fort situated on top of a steep-sided Volcanic spur, on the lower slopes of the Kilpatrick Hills.
Sitting 160m above sea level, and overlooking the River Clyde to the South, the original fortification on the summit of Sheep Hill was a small oval shaped Dun, with a timber-framed stone wall, measuring about 40m x 40m.
Radiocarbon dates suggest this was probably built in the 9th century BC, and destroyed and vitrified sometime in the 7th century BC.
The builders of the second, larger HillFort re-used this stone and also made use of the natural terraces of the Basalt summit, that fall away steeply on all sides except on the NE, to produce an enclosure containing several smaller enclosures (The central part of the HillFort seems to have been the summit of the hill - the area enclosed by the earlier timber-framed Dun) measuring 80m x 45m. Directly below this on the Southern side was a lower, triangular, enclosure with a gateway visible in its East wall. Excavated in 1893 by the 'Helensburgh Nat Hist Soc', it was then known as Ardconnel Hill Fort.
Archaeologist "Dr. Euan W. MacKie" is the foremost expert on the Neolithic to Iron Age sites located around Auchentorlie. His records of Sheep HillFort and the Greenland Cup & Ring carvings show this area has been inhabited for at least 5,000 years, and suggests the inhabitants of the Dun/Fort quarried the Sandstone Raft that had the Original Cup & Ring Carvings, and 'Re-Placed' them with newer, fresher ones. He studied the HillFort over many decades, and found pottery remains, Jet bracelets and a Blue glass bead during excavations in 1975.
For more detailed information direct from : E.W. Mackie and also see Canmore ID 43388.
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