Elizabeth Rennie was my teacher at Sandbank Primary in the late 70's. My love of history, especially local, and archaeology in general can be traced directly to her. She took our whole class out and about including to help at the site, then being excavated, at the foot of Camels Hump (my memory across 40 years is that we got to dig further out in the field at the base of the hill than where the actual site is marked out today, probably to keep us away from anything important. I recall we mainly found shells, but someone did unearth a coin which turned out to be Roman). Her enthusiasm for her subject however was simply infectious and has remained with me to this day.
Thank you for your comment. I've picked up a lot of Elizabeth Rennie's work and I'm simply in awe of her! She clearly had so much energy and devotion for the History of Cowal, the lady was a force of nature. Fascinating to hear your story of her taking a class of pupils down to a dig - what a formative experience that would've been. Thanks for sharing!
Very interesting, thank you. 60 years ago, when I was three, we moved to Cowal View, Gourock, and then moved back to England 3 years later. Thanks to your videos I now know what the view was of, a little late :-]
I haven't been doing much with my Gaelic or ancient/medieval Scottish studies (a personal hobby) lately, but I was overjoyed to bring up my alternate YT account and see that you had posted an update. The bit about vitrefaction was especially interesting! It made me wonder if this practice is relegated to prehistory.
Great to see you posting again. Love your output as I love this area of our history. Great if we could get a big dig going on the Dunans. Played there as a kid before I got into prehistory. Amazing stuff 🏴👍👍👍👌
Really interesting video, solid linking of various local archeological sites and applying a bit of context to them. I've climbed the Camels Hump a hundred times and never thought of it more than a pretty view, I was actually quite dissapointed at the deforrestation leaving it a barren landscape! However it's completely true that it's a far more accurate view of the landscape at the time. I think considering the other archeological evidence of settlement in and around Ardnadam and Dunloskin, dating back thousands of years, makes it hard to believe that a hill as perfect a look out post as the Camel's Hump would go ignored. The 39 or so charcoal platforms surrounding its base also potentially hint at this, as while little digging has been done, evidence of early medieval and prehistoric settlement has been found. Meaning these supposed charcoal burning platforms could've been repurposed from their older use. Interestingly, on one of the early Victorian OS maps, there is a "fort" marked where Strone Golf course currently sits. Other than that there is very little evidence or knowledge of its existence, due to much landscaping being done in the area, but potentially it could've been used in conjunction with the Camels Hump look out point, as both are clearly visible from each other. This would give a force a complete hold over the mouth of the Holy Loch, making it very hard for anyone to sneak up unnoticed by either boat or land. Here's the Canmore link to the Strone Fort, I would be really interested to hear your opinion of it, could be jumping to conclusions myself, but either way, thought the video was great. Link: canmore.org.uk/site/40772/cnoc-nam-faintan
Thanks for your comments! I was aware of the fort on the Strone golfcourse - an archaeology student living in Strone had flagged it up to me a few years ago, but as you say there is sadly now little evidence of it left to see. In discussion with some of those working at Historic Kilmun, they believe that the founding of the initial early medieval mission at Kilmun was as a reaction to the significant settlement on the opposite shore of the Holy Loch at Ardnadam. The numerous hut platforms identified by Rennie at Ardnadam suggest continuing and significant settlement in the area. Without further dating evidence for the Strone fort it is just theorising, but the idea of this entrenched, relatively populous (for the time) settlement controlling the Holy Loch is quite possible, through the ancient period and into the 6th century. In these times the waterways were the highways of the day, so it makes sense that such a group would want the security of oversight on the entrances to their 'world'. Arguably a scenario like this makes Dunan defensively more relevant/important than the Castle Hill site in Dunoon as it gives line of sight to a satellite sentry fort at Strone, when Castle Hill does not. On paper it certainly looks like a good plan! A good follow on question is how far this group's boundaries extended inland into the peninsula? There is good placename evidence for a boundary and a candidate for a hillfort to the north of the valley at the bottleneck between Glenbranter and Strath Cur. Have you climbed Creagan Darach - the hill with Queen Victoria's jubilee monument on top of it?
Yeah definitely agree that the chances of the Dunloskin and wider Holy Loch area being a fairly large settlement are pretty high, would love to see some proper investigation into it. Not had the chance to climb Cregan Darach yet but will certainly put it on the list, where abouts is it? Was recently investigating Cnap Reamhar, a potential hill Fort above Ardentinny. As far as I can find, the main evidence for it is from a 1888 paper on archeology in Cowal, I actually found the paper when researching the Strone Fort, its in the canmore links if you fancy a look. Unfortunately couldn't find anything conclusive myself when I was up but definitely some interesting looking earthworks. Geography wise, the hill ticks a lot of the boxes for being a hillfort and it's view up the valley, over Dun Darich also makes it more plausible I feel, would be interested to hear your thoughts on it
I would imagine this high raised fortification would have shown movements of military ships filled with military sailors invading this area. It was mentioned an old Roman coin being found. Interesting.? As this area is known as a peninsula.
Elizabeth Rennie was my teacher at Sandbank Primary in the late 70's. My love of history, especially local, and archaeology in general can be traced directly to her. She took our whole class out and about including to help at the site, then being excavated, at the foot of Camels Hump (my memory across 40 years is that we got to dig further out in the field at the base of the hill than where the actual site is marked out today, probably to keep us away from anything important. I recall we mainly found shells, but someone did unearth a coin which turned out to be Roman). Her enthusiasm for her subject however was simply infectious and has remained with me to this day.
Thank you for your comment. I've picked up a lot of Elizabeth Rennie's work and I'm simply in awe of her! She clearly had so much energy and devotion for the History of Cowal, the lady was a force of nature. Fascinating to hear your story of her taking a class of pupils down to a dig - what a formative experience that would've been. Thanks for sharing!
Great video! I knew nothing about this. Please keep making these.
Very interesting, thank you. 60 years ago, when I was three, we moved to Cowal View, Gourock, and then moved back to England 3 years later. Thanks to your videos I now know what the view was of, a little late :-]
I haven't been doing much with my Gaelic or ancient/medieval Scottish studies (a personal hobby) lately, but I was overjoyed to bring up my alternate YT account and see that you had posted an update. The bit about vitrefaction was especially interesting! It made me wonder if this practice is relegated to prehistory.
Great to see you posting again. Love your output as I love this area of our history. Great if we could get a big dig going on the Dunans. Played there as a kid before I got into prehistory. Amazing stuff 🏴👍👍👍👌
Brilliant, very interesting
Outstanding video with great historical narrative!!!!
Really interesting video, solid linking of various local archeological sites and applying a bit of context to them. I've climbed the Camels Hump a hundred times and never thought of it more than a pretty view, I was actually quite dissapointed at the deforrestation leaving it a barren landscape! However it's completely true that it's a far more accurate view of the landscape at the time. I think considering the other archeological evidence of settlement in and around Ardnadam and Dunloskin, dating back thousands of years, makes it hard to believe that a hill as perfect a look out post as the Camel's Hump would go ignored. The 39 or so charcoal platforms surrounding its base also potentially hint at this, as while little digging has been done, evidence of early medieval and prehistoric settlement has been found. Meaning these supposed charcoal burning platforms could've been repurposed from their older use. Interestingly, on one of the early Victorian OS maps, there is a "fort" marked where Strone Golf course currently sits. Other than that there is very little evidence or knowledge of its existence, due to much landscaping being done in the area, but potentially it could've been used in conjunction with the Camels Hump look out point, as both are clearly visible from each other. This would give a force a complete hold over the mouth of the Holy Loch, making it very hard for anyone to sneak up unnoticed by either boat or land. Here's the Canmore link to the Strone Fort, I would be really interested to hear your opinion of it, could be jumping to conclusions myself, but either way, thought the video was great. Link: canmore.org.uk/site/40772/cnoc-nam-faintan
Thanks for your comments! I was aware of the fort on the Strone golfcourse - an archaeology student living in Strone had flagged it up to me a few years ago, but as you say there is sadly now little evidence of it left to see. In discussion with some of those working at Historic Kilmun, they believe that the founding of the initial early medieval mission at Kilmun was as a reaction to the significant settlement on the opposite shore of the Holy Loch at Ardnadam. The numerous hut platforms identified by Rennie at Ardnadam suggest continuing and significant settlement in the area. Without further dating evidence for the Strone fort it is just theorising, but the idea of this entrenched, relatively populous (for the time) settlement controlling the Holy Loch is quite possible, through the ancient period and into the 6th century. In these times the waterways were the highways of the day, so it makes sense that such a group would want the security of oversight on the entrances to their 'world'. Arguably a scenario like this makes Dunan defensively more relevant/important than the Castle Hill site in Dunoon as it gives line of sight to a satellite sentry fort at Strone, when Castle Hill does not. On paper it certainly looks like a good plan! A good follow on question is how far this group's boundaries extended inland into the peninsula? There is good placename evidence for a boundary and a candidate for a hillfort to the north of the valley at the bottleneck between Glenbranter and Strath Cur. Have you climbed Creagan Darach - the hill with Queen Victoria's jubilee monument on top of it?
Yeah definitely agree that the chances of the Dunloskin and wider Holy Loch area being a fairly large settlement are pretty high, would love to see some proper investigation into it. Not had the chance to climb Cregan Darach yet but will certainly put it on the list, where abouts is it? Was recently investigating Cnap Reamhar, a potential hill Fort above Ardentinny. As far as I can find, the main evidence for it is from a 1888 paper on archeology in Cowal, I actually found the paper when researching the Strone Fort, its in the canmore links if you fancy a look. Unfortunately couldn't find anything conclusive myself when I was up but definitely some interesting looking earthworks. Geography wise, the hill ticks a lot of the boxes for being a hillfort and it's view up the valley, over Dun Darich also makes it more plausible I feel, would be interested to hear your thoughts on it
Thanks!
Good stuff 👍🏻
Great, thanks.
Thank you!
I would imagine this high raised fortification would have shown movements of military ships filled with military sailors invading this area. It was mentioned an old Roman coin being found. Interesting.? As this area is known as a peninsula.
Natural wodland is a good thing, forestery plantations of mostly non native trees ruins the landscape