Kilpatrick Dun

Until the 1970s, Kilpatrick was thought to be the remains of an Early Christian monastic enclosure or ‘cashel’ - but this is no longer believed to be the case.

Excavations have revealed a complex site with several stages of occupation.

Archaeologists found a cist, a type of structure normally used for burial purposes, thought to date to the Bronze Age. A circular structure above the cist is believed to be the Iron Age dun.

Two hut circles lie to the west of Kilpatrick Dun enclosure, and at least another three circles can be found to the east. Further east is a multi-phase Bronze Age kerb cairn.  

The surrounding landscape has been farmed since at least the Bronze Age, 4,500 years ago. Further archaeological remains certainly lie beneath the peat that formed here during global cooling in the first millennium BC. 

Kilpatrick Dun is one of several prehistoric monuments on Arran’s west coast. It lies a few miles south of Auchengallon, a kerbed cairn previously interpreted as a stone circle, and the prehistoric landscape at Machrie Moor.