Achanelid
Motte (Medieval)
Site Name Achanelid
Classification Motte (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Glendaruel; Ardacheranmor
Canmore ID 40508
Site Number NS08NW 2
NGR NS 0061 8735
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40508
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmodan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NS08NW 2 0061 8735
Not to be confused with possible motte at NS 0060 8788, for which see NS08NW 1.
NS 006 874. Motte: This tree-covered rectangular mound stands on the right bank of the Ruel, near the mid-point of the glen. The flat top is 20' high and measures 90' E-W by 55' transversely. The mound is protected by the Ruel to the E; a ditch is clearly traceable on the S and W, but barely on the N. What may be a considerable bailey extends WSW for 500' by 300' N-S, having the Ruel to the S and E, the motte ditch to the W, and a bank to the N. The name Dun an Oir, now attached to a burial ground 250 yds WNW may have been misplaced from this mound (c/f NS08NW 1).
J Kirby and H B Millar 1967
NS 0061 8736: rectangular motte, its summit measuring 26.5m NW-SE by 18.0m surrounded by a wet ditch on all but the E side. A break in the ditch on the W indicates a possible entrance.
There are slight traces of a small sub-rectangular founddation on the NW summit of the motte. There is no evidence to suggest a bailey. Kirby and Millar may have been confused by a modern drainage ditch which runs SW from near the motte.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 23 November 1972
As described in the report above.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (TRG) 13 October 1976.
Scheduled as 'Ardacheranmor, motte... a tree-covered rectangular mound with artificially-scarped banks standing on the W bank of a river, near the mid point of Glendaruel.'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 18 October 2006.
Field Visit (April 1987)
This rectangular earthen mound stands close to the W bank of the River Ruel 300m SE of Dun an Oir burial-ground (No.26) and 500m S of Achanelid farmhouse and another possible motte (No. 125). It consists of a level tree-covered platform with artificially-scarped banks rising some 5m to6m above the surrounding ground. The summit-area measures 28m from NW to SE and expands in width from 12m at the W to about 18m at the E. The Sand W sides of the mound are surrounded by the remains of a broad wet ditch, partly circumscribed by a counters carp bank, and there is a modern drainage-ditch system further to the W (en.1*). The entrance may have been across the W sector of the ditch. At the NW end of the summit there are low turf-covered remains of a small rectangular building measuring internally6m from NE to SW by 3m. A hollowed area towards the centre of the platform appears to mark the position of a similar structure measuring about 12m by 5m.As with No. 113, the earthwork can be interpreted more readily as a hall- or house-platform than as a conventional motte, for which a historical context is lacking. The buildings may be of late medieval date.
RCAHMS 1992, visited April 1987
Measured Survey (1988)
RCAHMS surveyed the motte at Achanelid in 1988 with plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:400. The plan was redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:1000 (RCAHMS 1992, 211A).
