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Binnein Mor
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Binnein Mor
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 39448
Site Number NR89NE 9
NGR NR 8598 9587
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/39448
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmichael Glassary
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR89NE 9 8598 9587
(NR 8600 9588) Fort (NR)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)
A light wall, enclosing an area 130' x 100', on the highest point of a narrow, rocky ridge.
The grass-grown debris suggests that the wall has been continuous on the W, N, apart from the entrance in the E, and in spite of the precipitous nature of the terrain. On the S, however, the wall appears only at one point, the rest of this arc being defended by cliffs.
The interior is turf-covered and almost level apart from a rocky terrace on the N.
D Christison 1904; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964.
On the highest point of a narrow rocky ridge is a fort measuring 40.0m NE-SW x 10.0m. The defences consist of two rubble walls across the SW neck of the ridge, but elsewhere steep natural rock faces appear to suffice although there are slight traces of a wall at the N end.
A slight wall on a lower terrace to the E may be contemporary, forming a annexe to the fort.
The interior is featureless but the entrance has almost certainly been in the NE.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (RD), 24 March 1970.
Measured Survey (30 April 1983)
RCAHMS surveyed Binnein Mor fort on 30 April 1983 with plane-table and alidade producing a plan at a scale of 1:100. The plan of the fort was redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:250 (RCAHMS 1988a, 146).
Field Visit (May 1983)
This very ruined fort encloses most of the rocky spine that crowns the summit of Binnein Mor l.2km W of Kirnan; (The presence of a fort in a naturally defensive position on Kiirnan Hill 1.65km to the NE (NR 867 973) has been reported on sveral occasions, but more recent fieldwork suggests that the features previously described are either of natural origin or the result of relatively modern agriculture (Campbell and Sandeman 1964; Craw 1930), the position commands extensive views over Crinan Moss and the lower reaches of the River Add, looking out over Loch Crinan towards Jura. The fort measures about 40m by 20m within a single drystone wall, now reduced to an intermittent band of rubble that runs for the most part round the base of the spine and, on the E, encloses a narrow terrace lying some 4 m below the level of the summit; a gap in the rubble on this side probably indicates the position of the entrance. Apart from a level shelf at the SW end most of the interior of the fort is taken up with rocky outcrops.
RCAHMS 1988, visited May 1983.
Note (28 October 2014 - 23 May 2016)
This small fortification encloses the summit of Binnein Mor, a position that provides commanding views across Crinan Moss towards Jura. Roughly oval on plan, It measures about 40m from NE to SW by 20m transversely (0.06ha) within a single wall reduced to little more than a band of rubble that can be traced round the SW and SE and NE flanks below the rocky summit. The entrance is on the E.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2455
