Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates: •
Tuesday 3rd December 11:00-15:00
During these times, some services may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Loch Etive Head
Charcoal Burning Platform(S) (18th Century)
Site Name Loch Etive Head
Classification Charcoal Burning Platform(S) (18th Century)
Canmore ID 23691
Site Number NN14NW 3
NGR NN 105 450
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23691
- Council Highland
- Parish Ardchattan And Muckairn (Lochaber)
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Argyll
NN14NW 3 centre 105 450.
Centred approx NN 105 450. About twenty charcoal-burning stances lie scattered along a steep hillside immediately above the pier at the head of Loch Etive at an altitude of 75 and 150 metres. The platforms are 'D' shaped or oval on plan measuring about 9 metres in width and 7 metres in depth, most of them having been formed by cutting and banking, their forward lips being supported by massive revetments of dry-stone masonry up to 1.7 metres in height. In some instances, traces of a drainage channel can be seen leading out of one side of the platform.
Although the platforms are now turf covered and, in many cases, overgrown with scrub birch, fragments of charcoal are visible immediately beneath the turf in those places where the surface has recently been disturbed. It is probable that many of the stances were constructed circa 1723, falling into disuse when the Glen Kinglass furnace (NN03NE 2) was closed down during the 1730s. There was probably a second and more protracted period of activity following the establishment of the Bonawe ironworks (NN03SW 5).
RCAHMS 1975, visited 1972
NN 105 449. Platform 9 of this group of 30 platforms was partially excavated. The platform was found to have been built at an unknown date to support a round timber framed structure 10m in diameter. The floor was level with the surface of the massive boulders forming the front lip. The outer ring of post holes was set between the boulders, many over 1m in depth. The inner ring of sockets was 5m in diameter and had a central socket. 75cm above the original floor the surface had been re-used for charcoal burning. Between the two levels soil had accumulated and consolidated to resemble the natural soil of the hillside. On one half of the platform this accumulated soil was swept away by a rush of hill wash but eventually the level of the platform was restored for charcoal burning. No artefacts were found.
E B Rennie 1987
Field Visit (May 1972)
NN 10 44 and 10 45. About twenty charcoal-burning stances lie scattered along a steep hillside, immediately above the pier at the head of Loch Etive at an altitude of between 75m and 150m. The platforms are D-shaped or oval on plan, measuring about 9m in width and 7m in depth, and most of them have been formed by cutting and banking, their forward lips being supported by massive revetments up to 1.7m in height. In some instances traces of a drainage-channel can be seen leading out of one side of the platform. The platforms are now turf-covered, and many are overgrown with scrub birch, but where the surface has recently been disturbed fragments of charcoal* are visible immediately beneath the turf. Similar stances occur on the opposite, or SE, shore of Loch Etive at various points between Kinlochetive and Inverliever Bay, a particularly well preserved group, numbering upwards of thirty platforms, lying about 2km SW of Kinlochetive.
The timber-rights of the lands of Kinlochetive were included in a contract (SRO, Breadalbane Collection, GD 112/16/11, contract dated 14 September 1723) drawn up in 1723 between the 2nd Earl of Breadalbane and the Irish company that was then seeking to establish an ironworks in Glen Kinglass (cf NN03NE 2.00). No doubt many of the stances were constructed at this time. Fal;lin gout of use when the Glen Kinglass furnace was closed down some time during the 1730s. There was probably a second more protracted period of activity, however, following the establishment of the Bonawe ironworks (NN03SW 5.00) in 1753, and the acquisition of many of the local timber-rights by the operating company (Fell, 391-2, 441-8).
RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1972.
*Fragments collected at the date of visit were identified as birch and hazel by the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Desk Based Assessment (26 April 1977)
Centred approx NN 105 450. About twenty charcoal-burning stances lie scattered along a steep hillside immediately above the pier at the head of Loch Etive at an altitude of 75 and 150 metres. The platforms are 'D' shaped or oval on plan measuring about 9 metres in width and 7 metres in depth, most of them having been formed by cutting and banking, their forward lips being supported by massive revetments of dry-stone masonry up to 1.7 metres in height. In some instances, traces of a drainage channel can be seen leading out of one side of the platform.
Although the platforms are now turf covered and, in many cases, overgrown with scrub birch, fragments of charcoal are visible immediately beneath the turf in those places where the surface has recently been disturbed. It is probable that many of the stances were constructed circa 1723, falling into disuse when the Glen Kinglass furnace (NN03NE 2) was closed down during the 1730s. There was probably a second and more protracted period of activity following the establishment of the Bonawe ironworks (NN03SW 5).
Information from OS (RMB) 26 April 1977
