Islay, Carraig Bun Aibhne
Fort (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Site Name Islay, Carraig Bun Aibhne
Classification Fort (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Canmore ID 37619
Site Number NR34SW 11
NGR NR 31311 40425
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/37619
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kildalton And Oa
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR34SW 11 3133 4040.
Approx: NR 314 404. There is a possible fort at Carraig Bun Aibhne, on the coast.
F Celoria 1959; Information from Dr W D Lamont 1959.
NR 3133 4040. A flat-topped rocky knoll with no trace of any structure upon it. There is no other feature resembling a fort in this vicinity.
Visited by OS (BS) 3 June 1978.
Field Visit (November 1981)
NR 313 404. Situated about 500m SSE of the deserted steading of Stremnishmore, on the irregular summit of the elongated rocky stack Carraig Bun Aibhne, there are the very tenuous remains of what has possibly been a fort.
The stack, which is aligned NW and SE, lies on the left bank of a nameless stream, in a natural amphitheatre formed by a re-entrant in the coastal cliffs. The position is moderately well defended by nature: the SW flank of the stack presents steep rock-faces up to 12.0m high, but on the NE there are grassy slopes, rising to an average height of only 3.0m above the level of adjacent ground.
The fort measures about 40m by 18m over all, and appears to have been defended by a single stone wall drawn round the irregular margin of the summit. The wall survives, at best, as a thin band of grass-grown rubble or a low stony scarp; elsewhere it has been removed by stone-robbing, or, as on the S half of the NW side, by the collapse of the rock face. The position of the entrance is probably indicated by a cleft, 3.0m wide, in the rocky scarp that forms the margin of the summit on the NNW. The low grassy scarps within the interior appear to be entirely natural in origin, although it is probable that most of the level ground on the summit has been cultivated in the recent past.
RCAHMS 1984, visited November 1981.
Measured Survey (1981)
RCAHMS surveyed this fort using plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:400. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 83B).
Note (7 October 2014 - 23 May 2016)
This small fort occupies a promontory formed where a burn cuts through the coastal escarpment to the sea below Stremnishmore. Irregular on plan, the summit of the promontory measures about 35m from NW to SE by 18m transversely, and its defences have been reduced to a thin band of rubble that can be traced along its margin on the SW and at the SE tip. The entrance is probably on the N via a cleft in the rocky escarpment forming this flank. The interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2178
