Archaeology Notes

Event ID 697381

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/697381

NS06NE 5 05363 67274.

(NS 0536 6725) Cnoc an Rath (NAT)

Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

Cnoc an Rath, or Tom en Raw, consists of an irregular earthen circle, 91ft by 88ft in diameter, and a 10ft deep ditch. It is surrounded by a stone wall, built by Lord Bannatyne, and planted with firs, among which is the tomb of James Hamilton of Kames, 1775-1849.

J K Hewison 1893

'At Croc-an-Rath (054673) marked fort on 6" and earthwork on 1" the structure is probably a Neo Woodhenge type with a causeway. This is Jack Scott's idea and others agree' Information contained in a letter from D N Marshall to A L F Rivet of the OS Archaeology Division 29 September 1963 (MS1033.46).

Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 21 January 2010.

Though listed as a possible Class 1 henge (H A W Burl 1969), this classification is doubtful.

Information from J N G Ritchie, RCAHMS, 1972.

Early medieval Ring-work, previously classified as prehistoric, but it seems too fresh.

E J Talbot 1975

Cnoc an Rath (name verified), a sub-circular univallate earthwork situated on a slight rise in level pasture land. The inner bank, which has been effaced on the SW side, is up to 0.8m high internally and encloses a level area 24.0m in diameter. The well-preserved ditch is 1.6m deep on the north side. A 2.6m wide causeway crosses the bank and ditch in the east and ends at the outer enclosing wall where there is now a vertical drop of 1.6m. The 46.0m diameter stone wall which is from 1.0 to 1.8m high has damaged or destroyed the outer limits of the earth- work, and Miss Marshall suggests that there was formerly an outer bank. However, as Talbot suggests, the feature appears to be too well-defined to be anything other than medieval, probably a ring-work. The tomb is in poor condition.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (TRG) 8 November 1976

An earthwork of uncertain purpose and age, but certainly not a 'fort' as described on the OS map. Roughly circular on plan it is bounded by a single deep ditch and internal upcast bank, and measures about 27 yds by 25 yds from crest to crest of the bank. There is a well-defined entrance on the E.

Although the structure has been tentatively identified as a henge, the ditch profile seems to be too steep and well-preserved for a prehistoric monument.

Information from K A Steer 14 July 1975.

NS 0536 6726 General survey of this circular earthwork was undertaken during October 2007. The elevated central area

surrounded by a ditch retains some evidence for a low bank along part of its circuit. The monument is surrounded by the

remains of a ha ha-like revetted bank, now much collapsed. The latter was partly superseded by a formally constructed wall to the N and NW. Along the S side of the site there is a low masonry platform, a stop on the late 19th-century tramway route that passed immediately adjacent. The early ditch may have been partly re-excavated.

In the centre of the site lies the derelict 'Lone Man's Grave', a 19th-century burial enclosure of the Bannatynes of Kames. This structure was surveyed in detail.

Archive deposited with Bute Museum, RCAHMS, Mount Stuart Archive.

Funder: Discover Bute Landscape Partnership Scheme; partners HLF; SNH; The Mount Stuart Trust, Highlands and

Islands Enterprise, Argyll and Bute Council Buteshire Natural History Society; Community Council.

K Macfayden, S Philips and T Addyman, 2007.

This site is as previously described. An all-weather path, part of a walking/cycling route between Port Bannatyne and Ettrick Bay, skirts round its S side.

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 20 March 2009.