Creag A' Phuirt
Almshouse (17th Century)
Site Name Creag A' Phuirt
Classification Almshouse (17th Century)
Canmore ID 23838
Site Number NN31SW 3
NGR NN 3285 1310
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23838
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Arrochar
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Dumbarton
- Former County Dunbartonshire
NN31SW 3 3285 1310.
(Area NN 3285 1310). In the reign of King James VI (1567-1625), John, a chief of the Macfarlanes and Laird of Arrochar, built and endowed an almshouse at Bruitfort on the mainland opposite Ellan-a-Vhow. He endowed it with a revenue sufficient to provide for the accommodation of all travellers seeking shelter there.
The almshouse no longer exists, although the wall tracks of a house can still be traced at a spot called Croiteaphurte (? OS Map "Creag a' Phuirte) which means the croft of the landing, or where persons embark or disembark from a small boat.
J Irving 1879; W Fraser 1869.
No traces of any building foundations were found in this area.
Visited by OS (JLD) 28 September 1956.
Excavation (13 November 2017)
NN 32755 12881 (NN31SW 3) An excavation was carried out on a site at Creag a’Phuirt on the W shore of Loch Lomond on 13 November 2017. It was thought that this might be an almshouse built by James Macfarlane opposite his house on Island I Vow between 1612 and 1625 to provide for travellers passing through the district. The building proved to be a small, well-built, slightly trapezoidal-shaped structure, with a slate roof, but no obvious entrance or fireplace. The floor consisted of redeposited loch-side material with water-rolled stones and contained a sherd of late 16th-/17th-century window glass and a broken sherd of 17th-century pottery. Considering its location and date, this structure may well have been the almshouse perhaps comprising two storeys, with access from an outer stair. By the mid-19th century the walls had been robbed and the site left ruinous. The site has been used in recent times for wild camping.
Archive: NRHE (intended). Report: Calluna Archaeology
Funder: Clan Macfarlane Worldwide
Heather James – Calluna Archaeology
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
