Achanelid
Motte (Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name Achanelid
Classification Motte (Medieval)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Clacheranmor
Canmore ID 40503
Site Number NS08NW 1
NGR NS 0060 8788
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40503
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmodan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NS08NW 1 0060 8788
Not to be confused with motte at NS 0061 8735, for which see NS08NW 2.
NS 005 879: A small, flat-topped, conical hill stands to the E of the road and just S of Achanelid Farm. A very tumbled stone wall, 9' broad, lies round the top edge and encloses an area 150' N-S x 78'. The name "Dun and Oir", now attached to a burial ground 200 yds S, may originally have come from the dun.
F Newall 1960; Information from E B Rennie, 27 November 1967.
NS 0058 8788: The levelled summit of this knoll measures 21.0m NE-SW by 23.5m; around its edge is a scatter of turf-covered rubble with what may be facing stones on the S. The defensive situation and area of the knoll indicate that this was probably a fort. A natural gully on the S adds to the defensive nature of this site. (Below the knoll to the N is a large natural mound).
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 23 November 1972.
Scheduled as 'Clacheranmor, motte... an artificially-improved natural mound standing on the W slope of Glendaruel and commanding a wide view of the valley.'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 18 October 2006.
Field Visit (March 1987)
This artificially-improved natural mound stands l00m W of Achanelid farmhouse and immediately SE of the public road on the W slope of Glendaruel, commanding a wide view of the valley. The burial-ground now known as Dun an Oir (No. 26) is situated 400m to the SSW, and there is another possible motte (No. 109) 500m to the S.
The mound has steeply scarped flanks, especially on the SE where it slopes down about 15m towards the valley bottom, and to the W there is a natural gully with a revetted track. The flat-topped summit-area is roughly oval, measuring 30m from NE to SW by 24m, and there is a slight scatter of stony debris around much of the perimeter. In the E sector there is a gap leading down to a lower terrace, possibly marking the position of an entrance.
RCAHMS 1992, visited March 1987
Measured Survey (1987)
RCAHMS surveyed the possible motte at Dun am Oir, Achanelid in 1987 with plane-table and alidade producing a plan and section at a scale of 1:400. The plan and section were redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:1000 (RCAHMS 1992, 264A).
