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Dowan's Hill is a Iron Age dun located in Ayrshire, Scotland, protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2886. The monument occupies a distinctive geological setting, with bedrock formed from an unnamed felsic igneous intrusion dating to the Early Devonian period. This underlying geology of hard igneous rock would have offered a naturally defensible foundation for the dun's construction.
Duns were small, fortified homesteads built across Scotland during the Iron Age, typically consisting of stone-built structures with defensive characteristics. Dowan's Hill exemplifies this settlement type, constructed to command its local landscape. The quality and durability of the felsic bedrock beneath the site would have provided stable ground for building and may have influenced the choice of this particular location for settlement.
The monument survives as a testament to Iron Age settlement patterns in Ayrshire, preserving evidence of how communities exploited the region's geology and topography for domestic security and habitation during this period.
Dowan's Hill,dun,Dunree is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2886. View the official record →
Dowan's Hill is a Iron Age dun located in Ayrshire, Scotland, protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2886.
Dowan's Hill,dun,Dunree dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a dun,dunree. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Dowan's Hill,dun,Dunree is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM2886.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Mote Knowe,dun,Monkwood (1.8 km), Craigmuir Mote,dun (3.8 km), Lyonston,standing stone 250m ESE of (4.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Dowan's Hill,dun,Dunree's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Dowan's Hill,dun,Dunree stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Late Silurian To Early Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is felsic-rock.