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Field Visit
Date May 1969
Event ID 1175806
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1175806
NM 903 382. An important group of remains (to which the spurious name Beregonium. a misreading of Ptolemy's Rerigonium. was mistakenly applied by Hecto rBoece in his Scotorum Historiae), comprising two successive forts and a dun (Fig. 35), is situated on the summit of Dun Mac Sniachan, a steep-sided isolated ridge which stands close to the NE shore of Ardmucknish Bay, overlooking Benderloch Village from a height of 40 m OD. The higher (SW) part of the summit area joins the lower (NE) part at the head of a gully named Bealach na Banrigh, which cuts into the SE flank of the ridge. The gully affords a steep but practicable means of access to the summit, but the easiest approach is up a gentle slope from the NE.
The earlier of the two forts measures about 245 m in length by a maximum of 50 m in breadth internally. Traces of its wall (I) can still be detected almost all the way round the margin of the summit area of the ridge in the form of a grass-grown band of stony debris, in which five separate masses of vitrified material, apparently fused with the underlying rock, are visible as shown on the plan. The entrance was probably at the head of the gully on the SE. The interior is largely covered by scrub and there are no indications of buildings.
The later fort, situated near the SW end of the ridge, measures 52 m by 21 m within a vitrified wall (II) which, on the NW side, overlies the wall of the earlier fort. The remains of wall II appear as a grass-covered stony bank spread to a maximum thickness of 6 m, in which a stretch of inner facing-stones is exposed for a length of 7 m on the SE side. The position of the entrance is not apparent. Excavations carried out by Smith in 1873-4 (PSAS, x (1872-4), 78-80; xi (1874-6), 299-300; xi (1876-8), 14-15, pl. I (plan)), although inconclusive, established that the wall was preserved to a height of nearly 2 m and that its core material was heavily vitrified. Smith also found that at the NE end the wall had been rebuilt, vitrified material from the older structure being incorporated in the new. Some evidence of this reconstruction may be provided by the remains visible at the present time, which show an unexpected salient at the N corner, whereas Smith's plan shows in addition the line of a vitrified wall continuing straight across the base of the salient. Further excavation, however, would be required to establish the nature and extent of the rebuilding. Within the interior Smith found traces of rectangular stone buildings, now no longer visible, and the finds included part of a tanged Iron sword, an Iron dagger, an iron ring, an enamelled bronze circular mount, and a bronze ring, together with several querns and a considerable quantity of animal bones (sheep, pig and cattle). The metal objects are now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.
The dun, situated at the lower (NE) end of the ridge, measures about 18'3 m by 15'2 m within a wall (IIIA),which now appears as a grass-grown band of stony debris about 3 m in thickness. The removal of some of the debris on the E arc of this wall has revealed a mass of the vitrified core-material of wall I underneath. The dun is protected on the SW by two outer walls (IIIB and IIIC),running transversely across the ridge at distances of about 9 m and 18 m respectively from wall IIIA. The nearer wall (IIIB) appears to have been connected to wall IIIA on the Sand W, but there is no trace of a similar junction between walls IIIB and IIIC. Each of the outer walls has an entrance centrally placed; there is no corresponding gap visible in wall IIIA, and the position it would occupy, if it were situated in line with the other two, is now blocked by four large earthfast boulders.
While it is clear that the larger fort preceded both the smaller fort and the dun, there is at the present time nothing to show whether or not these latter structures were contemporary. The possibility, however, that the dun succeeded the smaller fort is suggested by a comparable group of remains at Dun Skeig (Kintyre) (Inventory of Argyll, I, No. 165), where a threefold sequence has been demonstrated. For further discussion, see pp. 17-18.
WELL. On the steep SE flank of the hill, 6 m outside wall I, there is a cavity in the rock measuring about 1'3 m square and normally filled with water. When cleared out in 1871 (PSAS, ix (1870-2), 85, 396), it was found to be 1'7 m in greatest depth. The cavity was originally a natural feature, subsequently enlarged and deepened to provide a well fed by water percolating through a crack in the rock above.
RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1969.
