Archaeology Notes
Date 1977
Event ID 697449
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/697449
NR92SW 2 9219 2326.
(NR 92172326) Torr a' Chaisteil (Fort) (NR)
OS 6" map (1924)
A dun (E W MacKie 1975) crowns Torr a' Chaisteal, a former headland, which M'Arthur alleges is artificial. It is now largely buried. The walls, 10ft-12ft wide between massive sandstone blocks filled with rubble, enclose an area 45 ft in diameter. The entrance, in the NE, is defended by a curved earth and stone rampart, 66ft long and 10ft thick. McArthur, digging around the mound, and within the ruins, found large quantities of animal bones and shells, embedded in a dark fetid loam. Human bones are also said to have been found among the ruins. Balfour, who states that local informants say that the court had been dug into twice prior to his excavations, found the top stone of a quern and pieces of haematite iron.
McArthur quotes a local tradition that a battle was fought here (see NR92SW 13).
Sources: S Piggott and W D Simpson 1970; J McArthur 1873; 1859; J Balfour 1910;
R McLellan 1970
NR 9219 2326. Torr a' Chaisteil (name confirmed on Department of the Environment nameplate) is a dun generally as described in the previous information. The turf-covered walling is 0.5m high abnd has an average width of 4.0m. The entrance appears to have been in the south-east rather than the north-east.
There is a level area 3.0m below the dun on the east which is the area of easiest approach. It measures 25.0m across and may have been used in association with the dun.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (BS) 17 October 1977.
