Field Visit
Date March 1987
Event ID 1082853
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1082853
These remains are situated on the NW hillside of Glendaruel, at a height of about 110m above the valley-bottom and 250m NE of Kildalvan township (No. 223). The name of the settlement is recorded, in 1491 and later, with little variation from its present form, and the dedication is uncertain (en.1).
The site is a roughly oval platform about 35m from NE to SW, bounded on the NE by the gorge of a stream, on the W by ground some 3m higher whose scarp is surmounted by a later turf dyke, and on the SE by a natural slope of some 10m to a lower terrace. In the NE part there are the turf-covered footings of a building about 6.5m from NW to SE by 4.5m internally, which may have been a chapel. A short length of stone wall extending SE from its SE angle is of uncertain purpose, and there are no identifiable burials, although in1870 the site was 'well known as an old place of burial’ (en.2).
At the NE angle of the platform there is a turf-covered stony mound with a central hollow about 2m in diameter and 1m deep, with breaks in the walls on two sides. This was probably a simple lime kiln, of a type found elsewhere in Argyll (en.3); there are numerous outcrops of limestone on the adjacent hillside, and this location may have been chosen tore-use building-material from the chapel and enclosure, as well as for its exposed position and proximity to the stream.
Local tradition refers to a nearby healing well known as 'Tobar na Suil' ('Well of the eyes') (en.4), which may have been a pool in the stream, but no evidence of artificial construction has been identified.
RCAHMS 1992, visited March 1987
