Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016754
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016754
A finely sited fort with an impressive, though tumbled, stone rampart, set high up in open moorland with views to the north and out to sea. The fort occupies a flat-topped ridge some 300m long, with steep precipices on either side. The easier approaches at the north and south ends are each defended by a single stone wall, originally nearly 4m thick but now tumbled. Large blocks and slabs as well as smaller ones were used in the construction of both ramparts. These have unfortunately been considerably disturbed by shepherds making sheep shelters among the tumbled stone. The shorter southeast rampart makes some use of natural rock outcrops in its layout. There is a narrow entrance near the centre,unusual in that it is only 1.3m wide. Perhaps it was a postern gate which could admit people but not carts or sledges.
The longer northern rampart cuts off the ridge from the hills behind. Parts of the other face of this rampart are exposed among the general rumble. About the centre of the rampart is an entrance nearly 5m wide, now partly blocked with fallen stones. Some very large stone slabs line the entrance passage, and the wall-face east of the entrance is constructed of particularly massive blocks. There are some straight building-joints crossing the line of the wall; it has been suggested that these represent further blocked entrances, but it seems more likely that they are simply a local building trait, also to be seen in the apparently unfinished fort at Cnoc an Duin, Ross and Cromarty (NH 696768).
At its east end the northern rampart runs into a well defined precipice. To the west, it continues as a slighter feature sorne way alorig the west side of the fort where the precipice is less pronounced.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
