Achnaclach
Fort (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Achnaclach
Classification Fort (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 38337
Site Number NR61NE 5
NGR NR 68780 15454
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38337
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Campbeltown
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR61NE 5 6877 1545.
NR 688 154 A fort is situated 640m WNW of Achnaclach farmhouse, at a height of approximately 170m OD, and occupies the whole of the narrow top of an elongated ridge lying NW and SE. The only easy access to the summit is by way of a gentle ascent from a saddle at the NW end; elsewhere the sides of the ridge are steeply inclined. The fort, which measures over all 100.5m in length by a maximum of 36.5m in breadth, has been defended by a single wall drawn round the irregular margin of the summit area. This wall has consisted of a core of rock rubble faced externally, and probably internally also, with large boulders. It has, however, been heavily robbed, and only three stretches of facing stones can be seen in situ at the present time, as shown on the plan; the largest stone measures 1.30m in length and up to 0.56m in breadth. Elsewhere the wall appears as a grass- grown stony mound no more than one metre in height. A gap in the wall at the NW end of the fort almost certainly represents an original entrance, but whether a similar gap at the opposite end is original or secondary cannot now be decided without excavation. The interior of the fort is covered with grass and rushes, and shows no sign of structures.
RCAHMS 1971, visited 1956.
NR 6878 1545: No change to RCAHMS report.
Surveyed at 1:10 000.
Visited by OS (J M) 2 October 1977.
Measured Survey (16 May 1956)
The fort at Achnanclach was surveyed by RCAHMS using plane-table and alidade on 16 May 1956 at a scale of 1mm:1ft. The plan was redrawn in ink by I G Scott in November 1967 and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1971, No. 155). The initial survey formed part of the Survey of Marginal Lands, but the survey was published as part of the Argyll Inventory series.
Reference (1957)
This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).
Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.
Note (9 October 2014 - 23 May 2016)
The remains of this fort occupy the elongated crest of a steep-sided ridge. The defences comprise a single wall, now largely reduced to a bank of rubble with a few exposures of a massive external face. Around the NW end the rubble is spread up to 4m in thickness by 1m in height, but around the SE end it has been heavily robbed and little more than a thin band of stones can be traced along the margins of the summit. A gap on the NW almost certainly marks the position of an entrance on the easiest line of approach, but there is also a second gap at the steep SE end. The interior is featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2209
