An Torr

Fort, Strathnacro.

The 6-inch OS map marks a fort on the summit of An Torr, about 300 yds N of Strathnacro post-office, in the angle of the River Enrick. The site in question is evidently the knoll that rise from the lip of the precipitous slope that flanks the E side of the high road just N of the post office, but nothing can now be seen except some faint traces of an earthen mound – sometimes taking the form of a vague terrace – which can be followed round the knoll for the greater part of its circumference. No stonework is visible, and the top of the knoll is flattened.

Visited by RCAHMS 17 September 1943.

Fort, An Torr, Glen Urquhart.

This fort is situated at a height of 420 ft OD 200 yds N of Mill of Tore on a promontory 70 ft below the steep W and S flanks of which the River Enrick runs out of the broad, open section of Glen Urquhart, which includes Loch Meigle the narrow pass at Strathnacro. The remains, in a very advanced state of decay, are sufficient to show that the fort measures about 150 feet in length from NW to SE by about 100 feet transversely within the last vestiges of a stone wall now represented only by a stony terrace about 12 feet in width. The entrance is in the SE. The interior rises to a maximum of some 20 ft above the level of the wall and is featureless. Numerous stones occurring in the interior might originally have formed parts of another wall, but at the date of visit they were so overgrown that no firmer opinion could be obtained. The whole lies in a plantation which includes birch scrub.

Visited by RCAHMS 12 April 1957.

NH42NE 1 45170 29853

This fort occupies the domed summit of a wooded knoll above a bend in the River Endrick. It measures 46m from NNW to SSE by 32m transversely within a wall reduced to a terrace 3m broad, with occasional large stones along its outer edge. The easiest approach is from the SSE, though there is no sign of an entrance. The ground within the interior rises to a level summit, which measures 22m by 6.5m, and there is a possible platform below this on the SW.

(URQ97 242)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 22 August 1997

A project of archaeological survey and evaluation was undertaken for Team Aquarius, on behalf of NOSWA by Headland Archaeology in advance of a water mains pipeline along Glen Urquhart, Highland. The proposed route runs from Tomich (NH 314 277) north to Cannich (NH 334 318) and then east towards Drumnadrochit where it splits to the north (NH 502 332) and south (NH 498 283). The proposed route is largely along the roadside but four stretches are through farmland or forestry. The survey comprised an initial desk based assessment to examine all available documentary and map sources prior to commencement of fieldwork, a walkover survey of the entire route and a watching brief on six trial pits highlighted as being in archaeologically sensitive areas by Highland Council’s Planning and Development Department Archaeological Officer. A full specification for the archaeological work was prepared by Highland Council.

Headland Archaeology 2001

What may be the remains of a fortified enclosure take in a rounded knoll on a low wooded ridge above the River Enrick in Glen Urquhart. The character of the defences, however, is uncertain, the main feature of the perimeter comprising a terrace some 3m wide, with occasional large stones along its outer lip. In 1957 RCAHMS investigators suggested that this terrace was the last vestiges of a wall, and that there were possible traces of an inner wall on the slope above it, but in 1970 the OS surveyor was of the opinion that it was essentially a bank formed from an internal quarry scoop cut back into the slope, and the photographs taken by a Citizen Science survey in 2014 certainly give the impression of a ditch with a counterscarp bank. In itself the perimeter seems of relatively slight stature, and though it may stretch credibility to classify it as the defences of a fort, it may nevertheless be a rare survivor of the ploughed-out settlement enclosures, some with internal palisades, that have been revealed by cropmarks extending eastwards from Inverness along the Moray Plain. In this instance it encloses an area measuring 45m from NW to SE by 30m transversely (0.1ha), and the most recent visit by RCAHMS investigators identified a possible platform on the SW below the summit; there may have been an entrance on the SE.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2871