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Torran Ban
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Torran Ban
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 15731
Site Number NJ03SE 3
NGR NJ 0695 3286
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/15731
- Council Highland
- Parish Cromdale, Inverallan And Advie
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Badenoch And Strathspey
- Former County Morayshire
NJ03SE 3 0695 3286.
At NJ 0695 3286 is a fort occupying a conical glacial knoll named Torran Ban (Information from G A Dixon, 13 Thirlstane Rd., Edinburgh).
The defended area on the uneven summit of the knoll measures about 44.0m E-W by about 20.0m transversely. There is no trace of a defence around the rim, but in the W at the head of the fortified approach, are the vestiges of a probable palisade trench about 14.0m long, about 0.8m wide and about 0.1m deep with a gap about 2.0m wide near the centre denoting the entrance. Surrounding it at a lower level is a ditch about 2.0m wide with an outer bank about 2.5m wide, which are reduced mainly to a terrace, and have disappeared completely in the SE sector. There is a gap in the SW at the base of a dog-legged approach up the slope to the summit. Between this and the palisade trench, the approach is protected by three scarps with upper terraces each of which is pierced by the approach route. There is no trace of walling at any point on the fort.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (A A) 17 February 1971.
Note (27 March 2015 - 31 May 2016)
This small fortification occupies a conical knoll at the edge of the forestry plantation due E of Ballinlagg Farm. The precise character and extent of the inner defences is uncertain, partly because the only evidence that the summit of the knoll has been defended is a possible palisade trench 14m in length on the W, and three terraces stepping down the slope below it to a ditch with an external bank. The ditch is some 2m in breadth and the bank 2.5m thick, though they are reduced to a terrace around parts of the circuit and have disappeared altogether in the SE sector. A gap on the WSW marks the position of the entrance, from which a track obliquely mounts the slope northwards before turning E to pierce the two upper terraces, which are probably the remains of ramparts; a corresponding gap in the palisade trench on the summit is about 2m wide. Assuming that the interior broadly corresponds to the oval summit, it measures about 44m from E to W by 20m transversely (0.07ha), while the ditch on the flanks of the knoll encloses a rather larger area of about 0.31ha. The interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2922
