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| Name: | Dun Ardifuir 1 |  |
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| Type: | Fort | ||
| NGR: | NR 789969 | ||
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| Description | |
| Extremely well preserved dun measuring 19m in diameter and situated in a position offering little natural protection. The drystonewall is careful built, the blocks having been regularly shaped or carefully selected, with small pinnings being used to make courses level. Almost all inner and outer faces of the wall can be traced and it is 3.5m at its widest. The inner face, which is stepped back to form a ledge at 1.8m high, rises to 2.6m high, and the outer to 3m high (twenty courses).The entrance is on the WSW side and a doorway gives access to a flight of four steps leading down into a intramural cell. To the north there is an opening to provide access for an intramural stair of which more than thirteen steps remain. | |
| Contemporary with other key fortified sites such as Dunadd, Ardifuir probably played a key role in the development of the Dalriada expansion. | |
| Excavation Details | |
| The site was excavated in 1904. Debris was cleared from the interior to reveal a strip of paving by the entrance. No other structural features were noted. | |
| Finds - polished stone axe, four whestones, quartzite polisher - stone mould, sandstone whorl, perforated discs, bronze ring - fragment of samian ware (2nd c.AD) and pottery sherd |
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| Access / Ownership | |
| Located on Poltalloch estate, permission should be sought. | |
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