Cnoc A' Chaisteil, Lergychoniebeag
Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Cnoc A' Chaisteil, Lergychoniebeag
Classification Dun (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 22764
Site Number NM80NW 8
NGR NM 8289 0882
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22764
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Craignish
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM80NW 8 8289 0882.
(NM 8289 0883) Dun (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)
On the summit of a narrow ridge with a steep spur to the SW are the remains of a roughly circular fort measuring overall about 48' by 53'. The wall is unusual in con- struction, the courses being bonded with long stones placed transversely at intervals. It measures 13' thick at the SW where three faces of walling are traceable, the interior face standing to a maximum height of 6' 6" above the foot of the outer face. At the north, the wall measures 9 feet in thickness. The gate was perhaps in the NE. There are two terraces below, to the SW, the lower enclosure being on a spur which bears the remains of a rectangular house. To the west, there is a track into the hills with traces of huts near it.
M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964.
A dun situated at the end of a rocky ridge, measuring internally about 10.5 metres NE-SW and about 8.0 metres transversely, within a wall on average 3.6 metres wide. The outer face of one or two courses is visible except in the NW where rockfalls have encroached on the wall. The inner face is visible only in the north, standing to a maximum height of 1.4 metres. On the east side, south of the entrance are the possible traces of a stabilising wall. The entrance, in the east, is 3.8 metres long and 1.6 metres wide internally, the outer face having been mutilated. A large slab on the south side of the entrance may represent a fallen door check. To the south of the dun are the remains of two defensive walls, the lower with occasional external facings. The rectangular feature 18 metres to the NE is probably of modern date.
Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.
Visited by OS (D W R) 1 October 1971.
Field Visit (June 1982)
A dun, measuring 11.5m by 9m within a wall 2.75m thick, occupies the highest point of a narrow ridge 800m NE of Lergychoniebeag (Campbell and Sandeman 1964). On the NW the ground has fallen away, taking part of the wall with it, but elsewhere the outer face survives up to 0.7m in height with a pronounced batter. Two short lengths of inner face remain, that on the NE standing 0.7m high in four courses. The stones of the wall core have been laid in roughly concentric lines, but there is no clear indication of a medial face, and several stones have been laid transversely through the thickness of the wall. The entrance, which lies on the E and is about 1m wide, has been considerably disturbed, but one long slab remains to indicate the line of the S side-wall of the passage. A fallen slab in this area may have been a lintel or a jamb. There are slight traces of later occupation within the interior and below the dun to the NE and SW.
Visited June 1982
RCAHMS 1988
