Note
Date 5 January 2015 - 19 September 2016
Event ID 1044443
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044443
Dunollie crowns a precipitous stack overlooking the N exit of the Sound of Kerrera and the passage into the sheltered waters of Oban Bay. Crowned by a ruined tower-house and its courtyard, the references by annalists for the years AD 686, 698, 701, 714 and 734 also indicate this was the site of an early medieval fortification, the existence of which was confirmed by excavations directed by Leslie Alcock on earthworks first shown but not annotated on the 1st edition of the OS 25-inch map (Argyllshire 1874, sheet 98.3). In his interpretation, the stone castle masks a citadel, while a bank on the leading edge of a terrace some 15m to the N incorporates a massive stone rampart up to 5m thick enclosing an upper court; overlying a metalworkers hearth associated with artefacts and radiocarbon dates spanning from the late 5th to the late 9th centuries AD, its collapsed ruin was overlain by deposits dated between the mid 9th and mid 11th centuries AD. Sometime later, another rampart was built on this line, though this may well belong to the 13th century or later. A similar undated sequence of construction was recovered from a terrace lower down on the E flank of the stack. While the presence of an early medieval fortification here is not in doubt, its form and extent are unknown. The medieval castle occupies an area of about 0.08ha on the presumed site of the citadel on the summit of the stack, while the position of the rampart to the N might increase this to 0.17ha, and the lower rampart on the E to perhaps as much as 0.24ha overall.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 19 September 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2661
