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Field Visit
Date December 1988
Event ID 1082651
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1082651
This rectangular flat-topped earthen mound stands close to the A815 on the NE side of the valley of the River Cur, 0.7kmSSW of Balliemeanoch farmhouse and 120m NNE of a modern cottage named An Cormer. A burn skirts the N flank of the earthwork, which rises up to 7m above the surrounding marshy ground, and there are remains of substantial turf field-dykes at the base of the SW and SE sides. The regular steeply-scarped banks are squared or slightly rounded at the angles and there are slight traces of stony debris at the E angle and around a depression in the centre of the NW side, where a later terraced path probably marks the position of the original entrance.
The summit-area measures some 24m from NW to SE by about 20m, and has an 8m length of low perimeter-bank along the NE edge, while the SW half of the site is occupied by the turf-covered remains of a rectangular building. This measures about l3m from NW to SE by 6m within low walls, apparently rounded at the angles and now spread to widths of 1m to 2m. A gap at the S end of the E side-wall probably marks the position of an entrance, and there are also traces of a possible opening in the opposite wall.
The earthwork can be interpreted more readily as a hall- or house-platform than as a conventional motte, for which ahistorical context is lacking before the arrival of the MacArthur Campbells in the late 13th or 14th century (en.1). On typological grounds the building may belong to the 15th or 16th century.
RCAHMS 1992, visited December 1988
