Seil, Balvicar
Fort (Prehistoric), House Platform(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Seil, Balvicar
Classification Fort (Prehistoric), House Platform(S) (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Winterton
Canmore ID 22610
Site Number NM71NE 7
NGR NM 77073 16436
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22610
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilbrandon And Kilchattan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM71NE 7 7707 1643.
NM 7710 1645. Fort, Balvicar: Situated on the summit of a steep-sided elongated rocky ridge aligned NE-SW, c. 250yds ENE of Winterton farmhouse, is an oval fort defended by a single stone wall and outworks at the end of the ridge. (One part shows signs of vitrifaction). It measures 300' x 145' internally. The defences are now represented by tumbled bands of debris, grass-covered scarps, or where appearing as a bank, 15' in maximum width, standing up to 1 1/2' above the level of the interior. Scarps stand up to 3' above the exterior, but much debris obscures the line in most places. There is no sign of a wall on the NW side, where a precipitous cliff provides a strong defence. There are lines of defence at the S end; an inner wall shows signs of vitrifaction at one point. The line of its outer face may be seen, and several single stones remain in situ. The wall appears as a bank on the S for a short stretch. There are no inner facing stones remaining, so no wall thickness could be obtained. The middle and outer walls are of similar construction, though only the outer facing stones are preserved. A path leading obliquely through the three walls, c. 6' wide, may mark the site of the entrance in the S. A modern track, up to 12' wide, is not original and has probably destroyed all three lines of defence in the extreme S, where there is a great amount of tumbled debris, which obscures the line of the middle wall especially. At the SW, a modern field boundary has been built across the defences, and to the W of it no traces remain, though it is extremely likely that they all continued up to the cliff edge.
There are only two walls at the N end of the fort. The inner has considerable stretches of the outer face preserved, but it is overlaid partly by a modern field boundary which obscures any traces. There is a 22' wide gap in this wall which may mark the site of another original entrance. The outer wall is represented by a much denuded line of debris. There is a gap in this wall but it is impossible to say if it is original.
The interior is studded with many rock outcrops and is divided basically into two terraces, the upper (larger) on the W being 15' above the other. Platforms, which may be the stances of wooden huts may be seen in the interior, but lazy bed and rig-and-furrow cultivation has taken place over all the level areas within the fort, making interpretation difficult.
RCAHMS 1975, visited 1966 and 1977.
The remains of this fort are generally as described by the RCAHMS, although no definite entrance could be identified, but the outer wall can be traced sporadically with some rubble and facing-stones continuing round the S side to meet the inner wall. The interior contains one hut site and the possible sites of three others.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 22 September 1971.
NM 771 164 Site included in an archaeological and historical survey.
R Regan, B Black and S Webb, 2004.
Field Visit (May 1967)
NM 771 164. On the summit of an elongated rocky ridge, aligned NE and SW, about 280 m SE of Balvicar village, there are the denuded remains of a vitrified fort (Fig. 29), which measures internally 93 m by 44 m. Precipitous rock-faces have rendered artificial defence unnecessary on the NW flank of the ridge, while steep rock-studded slopes, now overgrown with impenetrable scrub, present a scarcely less formidable obstacle on the SE. Easy access is thus to be gained only along the spine of the ridge on the NE or SW.
The defences comprise a wall (A), drawn round the margin of the summit area on all sides except the NW, with outworks (B, C, D) at either end of the ridge. Wall A is best preserved on the NE and SW, where it is represented for the most part by a grass-grown stony scarp 1 m high, in which several stretches of outer facing-stones have survived in position as shown on the plan; no stones of the inner face can now be seen. On the SE, however, most of the wall has been destroyed and only a thin band of debris, 18·6 m in length, survives on the very crest of the steep slope to show that the work was originally continuous. A large mass of vitrified core-material which lies embedded in the scarp at the SW end of the fort indicates that the wall was originally timber-laced; several smaller lumps of vitrifaction have been incorporated in the boundary-walls of adjacent fields. A gap in the wall-debris on the SSW, measuring 2 m in width, probably marks the position of the entrance at this end, and it is possible that a second entrance was located somewhere in the broad gap at the NE end, where the line of wall A is crossed by a turf and-stone dyke of recent date.
The outworks on the SW originally consisted of two dry-stone walls (B, C) drawn round in a protective arc from the edge of the cliffs on the NW flank of the ridge and probably butting against the outer face of wall A on the SE. Unfortunately the actual point of junction is obscured by a broad modern track which has broken through the outworks and the main wall on this side. On the NW the outworks have been truncated by the construction of a modern turf dyke. Both walls have been reduced throughout to mere scarps of stony debris in which a number of outer facing-stones can still be seen. The entrances in Band C, both about 2·4 m wide, appear to have been staggered in such a way as to give only oblique access to the entrance in wall A.
Outwork D, which lies at an average distance of 7.6 m outside wall A on the NE, is in an extremely denuded condition, being represented at best by a thin scatter of core material. It is not certain which of the two wide gaps is the site of the original entrance.
The interior is divided into two levels by a sinuous rocky outcrop, 4.6 m in greatest height, at the N end of which there is a crescentic scarp, presumably defining the rear edge of a stance for a round timber house some 6 m in diameter. It is probable that cultivation of the interior in recent times has obscured the remains of other house-sites.
RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1967.
Measured Survey (2 May 1967)
RCAHMS surveyed this site with plane-table and alidade on 2 May 1967 at scale of 1mm:1ft. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale as Fig. 29 in 1975.
Note (24 November 2014 - 4 August 2016)
This fort occupies a rocky ridge set back from the shore on the SE coast of the island of Seil. The interior is oval on plan and measures about 93m from NE to SW by 44m transversely (0.36ha). The defences comprise an inner wall reduced largely to a scarp, which can be traced all round the circuit except along the precipitous NW flank, with one outer wall crossing the spine of the ridge on the NE, and two on the SW. Short runs and occasional stones of the outer face are visible along the lines of both the inner wall, and the two outer walls on the SW; there is also a large mass of vitrifaction embedded in the core of the inner wall at this end. There is an entrance at the SW end, and the gaps through the two outer ramparts are slightly staggered, curiously to expose the left-hand side of the visitor approaching the inner entrance. There may be a second entrance at the NE end, but it has been obscured by the construction of a later field-dyke on the inner rampart. The interior has been cultivated in post-medieval times, but in addition to the platform for a round-hosue shown on the plan drawn up by RCAHMS investigators, the OS suggested there were possible traces of three others.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 04 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2544
