Archaeology Notes

Event ID 673485

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/673485

NM32SW 12 3298 2098.

(NM 3298 2098) Fort (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)

Fort, Poit na h-I: On the summit of a rocky knoll 825m SE of Poit na h-I farmhouse, there is a fort known locally as Torr a' Chaisteil. The site lies in an extensive tract of broken country characterised by numerous granite knolls and ridges separated by fairly level, and often boggy, patches of ground. The flanks of the knoll are sheer rock-faces, 15m in greatest height, but by comparison the approach from the NW and SE ends is easy. The fort is defended by a single wall and, in order to enclose a large enough area, it has been built up to 6m below the general level of the summit, the internal area thus measuring about 50m from N to S

by a maximum of 40m transversely. For much of its circuit the wall is built on bare rock, and at numerous points the actual rock has been incorporated into the structure, with the result that the wall follows an irregular course in order to suit the configuration of the knoll. Considerable stretches of outer facing-stones survive, usually only the lowest course, but for a short distance near the entrance, on the SSE, five courses remain standing to a hieght of 0.9m. By contrast only two inner facing-stones can be seen, suggesting that the wall was about 2.5m in average thickness. On the NW several exceptionally large boulders have been included in the heavy rubble core-material. The entrance, 0.9m in width, is well marked, with the NE side-wall of the passage standing 0.9m high in three courses.

The interior is very uneven, a considerable amount of space being taken up by sheets of bare rock or by rock-bosses; the largest of the latter, situated in the NW quarter, rises 2.4m above the remainder.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1973.

A fort, as described by the RCAHMS (1980)

Surveyed at 1:2500 and 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (DWR) 27 April 1974.

Scheduled as Torr a'Chaisteal, Pottie.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 26 February 2003.