Client:- Historic Scotland
Project:- Isle Of Arran, Region – Glasgow, Clyde and Ayrshire
Reconstruction illustrations of Lochranza castle during the 12thC & 16thC, Machrie Moor Roundhouse, Torrylin Cairn and Torr A’ Chaisteal Dun.
Cairn Ban is remarkably complete Neolithic ‘Clyde’-type chambered cairn – a type of long cairn unique to south-west Scotland.There are a number of chambered burial cairns on Arran. Most were dug into by antiquarians and others seeking grave goods during the 1800s and 1900s. Carn Ban is the only one that remains largely undisturbed, having been excavated just once in the late 1900s.
Machrie Moor is a rich archaeological landscape including stone circles, standing stones, burial cairns and cists, as well as hut circles and an extensive field system, all dating to between 3500 and 1500 BC.The stone circles were preceded by elaborate timber circles on exactly the same sites. They were associated with religious activities dating back around 4,500 years. Cremation and inhumation burials were placed in the circles, long after they were first built.
Torr a’Chaisteal stands on an isolated grassy knoll. All that remains are the stone footings of what would have been a large circular structure with thick stone walls.It’s likely to have been a dun – a kind of fortified residence common in Scotland about 2,000 years ago. It’s still an impressive mound today, not unlike a medieval motte castle.
Kilpatrick Dun comprises an Iron Age dun, or fort, within a later boundary or cashel, hut circles and a Bronze Age field system. Excavations revealed a Bronze Age cist under the floor of the dun, suggesting that this was the site of a Bronze Age burial cairn before it was a dun.
At first glance, Lochranza Castle looks like a classic Scottish L-plan tower house of the 1500s. But looking closer, we can see that it’s been redeveloped from a much earlier medieval hall-house.Lochranza Castle is situated on a peninsula extending into beautiful Loch Ranza in the north of Arran.
