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Dunloskin Wood is a platforms and charcoal production area located in Argyllshire, Scotland. The site comprises earthwork platforms positioned on bedrock of the Southern Highland Group, comprising psammite and pelite formations dating to the Middle Cambrian period. These metamorphic rocks would have provided a stable foundation for the construction and operation of the charcoal-making facilities. The platforms represent the physical infrastructure required for large-scale wood carbonisation, a process essential to industrial activity in the Scottish Highlands from the medieval period onwards.
Charcoal production sites of this type typically supplied fuel for iron smelting, metalworking, and domestic use across a wider region. The woodland setting of Dunloskin Wood would have offered both the timber resource necessary for charring and convenient access to water for the cooling and processing stages of production. The arrangement of platforms suggests an organised, sequential working space adapted to the specific terrain.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3894, recognising its archaeological significance as evidence of historical industrial practice in Argyllshire. The surviving earthworks preserve information about the scale, methods, and organisation of charcoal manufacture in the Scottish landscape.
Dunloskin Wood, platforms and charcoal production area is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3894. View the official record →
Dunloskin Wood is a platforms and charcoal production area located in Argyllshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3894.
Dunloskin Wood, platforms and charcoal production area 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 SM3894.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ardnadam, settlement, chapel and enclosure 215m W of The Larches (0.7 km), Dunoon Castle (2.4 km), Cloch Lighthouse, anti-submarine tethering points 15m N and 10m SW of (4.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Dunloskin Wood, platforms and charcoal production area'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.
Dunloskin Wood, platforms and charcoal production area stands on Southern Highland Group, bedrock that formed in the Middle Cambrian. The rock here is psammite and pelite.