Note
Date 30 September 2014 - 9 August 2016
Event ID 1044629
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044629
This is an unusual fort in islay and Argyll, not for its position on a ridge with a rock crag forming the SE flank, but for its use of ditches in the defences, which rise in four tiers to a relatively small enclosure crowning the summit (see also Atlas No. 2154). The latter measures 34m from NE to SW by 17m transversely (0.04ha) within a rampart reduced to an external scarp dropping down to a point where what may be occasional outer facing-stones can be observed. The slope below this has probably been scarped also, partly to provide material for the first of the outer ramparts, now reduced to a terrace, which is also accompanied by an external ditch some 3m below its crest. Set a short distance outside this ditch is yet another rampart, in this case still standing 1m high internally on the SW and dropping 3.2m into the bottom of an external ditch with a counterscarp bank, which survives only around the SW quarter. While at first sight the crag on the SE appears largely natural, close inspection suggests that it has been extensively modified, in effect to carry the outer ditch around this flank. The entrance to the fort climbs along the crest of the crag on the NE. The defences are overlain by later field banks on the NE, S and W, which may be contemporary with the small rectangular enclosure that can be seen within the interior.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 09 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2154
