Sron Uamha
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Sron Uamha
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Balemacruma
Canmore ID 38308
Site Number NR60NW 1
NGR NR 61199 06044
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38308
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Southend
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR60NW 1 6119 0603.
(NR 6120 0603) Fort of Balemacruma (NR)
OS 6" map (1924)
Sron Uamha. The impressive remains of a small multivallate fort are situated on the southernmost point of Kintyre. The fort has been defended by three stone walls which enclose an irregularly-shaped area on the edge of the cliff measuring 32m in length by 13.5m in maximum breadth. It is possible, however, that the interior has been somewhat reduced by subsequent erosion of the cliff face at this point. The inner wall measures about 3.7m in thickness and follows the irregular shoulder of the knoll; at the NW end it surmounts a rocky boss which rises abruptly to a height of 4.6m above the rest of the interior. The middle and outer walls, which measure 2.1m and 1.5m in thickness respectively and lie close to the base of the knoll, are in an unusually good state of preservation, the outer face of the former standing to a height of 1.5m for considerable stretches on the N and NW.
The entrance is situated on the E where a track leads obliquely through the outermost wall and then directly through the other two. The only feature in the interior is a ruined wall of uncertain age which encroaches on the inner wall of the fort to the S of the entrance.
RCAHMS 1971, visited 1960
The fort lay on the farm of Balemacumra (hence the published name, which came on at 2nd edition).
NSA 1845 (D Kelly)
A fort as described by RCAHMS. The name "Fort of Balemacruma" is not in use locally.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (NKB) 6 October 1977
Note (9 October 2014 - 23 May 2016)
This small fort occupies a rocky knoll backing onto the cliffs of the coastal escarpment on the SW flank of the Mull of Kintyre. Irregular on plan, the interior measures a maximum of 32m from ESE to WNW by 13m transversely (0.034ha), though this includes a large rocky boss surmounted by the inner wall at the western end. The defences comprise no less than three walls, the inner, some 3.7m thick, following the crest of the knoll around the N and E, and the two outer ones, 2.1m and 1.5m thick respectively, around its foot. Extensive runs of the inner and outer faces survive on all the walls, the middle one being exceptionally well preserved with an outer face some 1.5m high. The entrance is on the E, and while the gaps in the inner and middle walls have opposed terminals to either side, in the outer wall they are staggered to expose the right-hand side of anyone attempting to penetrate the defences. The interior, which may have been eroded along the cliff-edge forming its SW margin, is featureless, apart from a later wall that has been inserted to create a stock pen immediately within the entrance.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2197
