External Reference

Date 27 November 2014

Event ID 995314

Category Documentary Reference

Type External Reference

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/995314

This polygonal enclosure of 1.8ha within a drystone wall from 2m to 3m in thickness, which is situated on a hillock between Garraron and the sea, was first noted as a 'stronghold' in 1843 (NSA, 7, Argyll, 54) and annotated 'Fort' on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1875, sheet 130). It was recorded as such by David Christison about 1888, though he noted its unusual character (1889, 417-18, fig 41), and accepted by Angus Graham (1948, 57-8). Marion Campbell and Mary Sandeman, however, voiced the opinion that its straight lines, embrasures and the entrance in a re-entrant indicated that it may be a castle, or at the very least had been reused in the medieval period (1962, 46). The RCAHMS County Inventory accepts this attribution (RCAHMS 1992, 263, no.124), suggesting that it may have been occupied by the McIver Campbell familly from at least the 14th to the 17th centuries, but that it was constructed in an 'earlier tradition' (RCAHMS 1992, 19), implicitly referencing drystone fortifications in Argyll dating from the Iron Age and early medieval period. Suffice it to say that the location is typical of earlier forts, though nothing earlier than the castle enclosure has been identified here.

Information from Stratford Halliday, 27th November 2014