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Seil, Cnoc An Tighe Mhoir
Fort (Prehistoric), Vitrified Stone (Prehistoric)
Site Name Seil, Cnoc An Tighe Mhoir
Classification Fort (Prehistoric), Vitrified Stone (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 22612
Site Number NM71NE 9
NGR NM 75700 16338
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22612
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilbrandon And Kilchattan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM71NE 9 7569 1634.
(NM 7569 1634) Cnoc an Tighe Mhoir (NR) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)
Generally as described by the RCAHMS although no conclusive entrance could be identified. There is nothing to suggest that the terraces on the E and SSW are the remains of ramparts.
Name confirmed.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 30 September 1971.
NM 7569 1634 Examination of this site revealed several locations where rabbit activity and sheep scrapes have damaged the ramparts and revealed previously unrecorded vitrified material. On the basis of this evidence, this site (NMRS NM71NE 9) should now be considered a vitrified fort.
S Gilmour and J Henderson 2000
NM 756 163 Site included in an archaeological and historical survey.
R Regan, B Black and S Webb, 2004.
Measured Survey (11 May 1966)
RCAHMS surveyed this site with plane-table and alidade on 11 May 1966 at a scale of 1mm:1ft. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale as Fig. 55 in 1975.
Field Visit (May 1966)
NM 756 163 Fort, Cnoc an Tighe Mhoir, Seil.
The denuded remains of a fort occupy the summit of a small isolated ridge 275 m S of Kilbride farmhouse at a height of 30 m OD. Sub-rectangular on plan (Fig. 31), the principal defence has consisted of a wall, which follows the margin of the summit to enclose an area measuring 43 m by 25m. Many of the stones have been removed to build field dykes, two of which now traverse the fort. No facing stones are visible but the remnants of the core material, composed of a mixture of earth and stones, can still be traced for most of the circuit as a grass-grown bank. On the SE, where it is best preserved, the bank is spread toa maximum thickness of 7'3 m and rises to a height of 2 m externally an 1 m internally. For a distance of about 26 m on the NW side the wall has been completely destroyed, but its approximate course is still indicated by the collapsed remains of a comparatively modern turf-dyke. The position of the entrance is represented by a gap 4'3 m wide on the NE.
Two isolated stretches of terrace, situated some 9 m outside the line of the wall on the SE and SW respectively, are probably the seatings for an outer wall or rampart of which no traces remain.
RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1966.
Note (24 November 2014 - 18 May 2016)
This oval fort occupies the summit of a hillock in the interior of Seil and measures 43m from NE to SW by 25m transversely (0.1ha) within a wall reduced to a grass-grown bank. This is best preserved on the SE flank, where it is spread some 7m in maximum thickness and stands 1m high internally and 2m externally; pieces of vitrifaction have been revealed by rabbit burrows and sheep scrapes (Gilmour and Henderson 2000). A gap on the NE probably marks the position of the entrance. The interior has been cultivated in post-medieval times and is now featureless. RCAHMS investigators thought that scarps on the SE and SW were possibly the remains of an outer defence, but the OS were more sceptical.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2545
