Visited 22.08.26
Cults Loch Settlement is located c. 1 mile NE of Castle Kennedy, a small village in Dumfries and Galloway. It lies c. 100m E of the E bank of Cults Loch in a flat arable field.
Cults Loch Settlement was found by analysis of aerial photographs taken in 1978. These images are viewable in trove.scot 61704. Cropmarks delineate a circular enclosure protected by a double palisade and outer ditch. trove.scot estimates the enclosed settlement to measure up to 40m in diameter.
Archaeological excavations carried out in 2009 and 2011 are detailed in trove.scot 61704. Unearthed artifacts date the settlement to the Iron Age. The archeologists stated that the “site comprised a single enclosure ditch and double palisade, within which were two successive ring-groove houses, a souterrain and a range of other pits and pothole features.”
On my visit to the grass field I failed to observe obvious traces of the palisades and ditch: I found a flat featureless rough grass surface except for a possible low discoloured bank measuring c. 5m E-W and 2m N-S. This may correspond to the proposed souterrain in the N half of the enclosure.
Thanks Omar & spencer