Barmore
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Barmore
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 40542
Site Number NS08SW 6
NGR NS 0025 8237
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40542
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmodan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NS08SW 6 0025 8237.
NS 002 823. A large fort crowns Barmore Hill. Its very tumbled walls are 10' wide, and may be seen on the S, W, and N sides, enclosing an area 180' x 150'. A 7' wide gateway leads through the N side to an annexe stretching N for another 150' and having another gateway, 9' wide, again on its N side.
M Paterson 1970; Information from E B Rennie, 27 November 1967.
NS 0025 8237. The remains of a fort with internal measurements of 63.0m E-W and 50.0m N-S. Its moss- covered rubble wall, averaging 3.0m in width (but with no facing stones visible) has been severely reduced and is destroyed on the E side. An entrance in the NW, 3.5m wide, opens into an annexe, 42.0m E-W x 33.0m, consisting of a slight scarp (up to 1.0m high) on the N and W sides, with an entrance in the N, 2.5m wide. The interior of both fort and annexe are featureless.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (IA) 27 November 1972
No change to field report above.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (BS) 14 October 1976
Field Visit (May 1985)
This fort occupies the summit of Barmore, an isolated hill near the near the head of Loch Ruel, to the SE of Kandahar Cottage and to the W of Auchnagarran (DES 1965). Roughly circular on plan, it measures about 60m in diameter within a drystone wall now reduced for the most part to a low stony bank up to 3m thick and 0.4m high. The position of the entrance is probably indicated by the debris-strewn hollow in the W end of the transverse ridge that crowns the summit. Running along the edge of the shelf that lies some 3m below the summit on the NW is an outer wall; the entrance through this wall is particularly well preserved, portions of the E passage-wall, including the outer cornerstone, surviving in position.
Visited May 1985
RCAHMS 1988
Note (14 July 2014 - 31 August 2016)
This fort is situated on a wooded hill in the bottom of Glendaruel between the public road and the River Ruel. Roughly oval on plan, it measures about 65m from E to W by 52m transversely (2.6ha) within a band of rubble that can be traced around the lip of the summit on the N, W and S, while elsewhere along the NE margin the ground simply falls away steeply. The entrance is probably on the NW, where there is a rubble choked hollow leading up onto the summit from a terrace some 3m below. This terrace, which measures up to 50m from E to W by 23m transversely, has also been enclosed, and there are traces of rubble along its leading edge on the W and N, the latter including an entrance with some of the facing stones on the E side of the passage still in place. While this has been considered as an outer rampart to the fort (RCAHMS 1988, 144-5, no.236), at the very least creating an additional annexe of about 0.12ha, it might equally be the remains of a fort in its own right, enclosing an overall area of up to 0.48ha. The interior of both the fort and the annexe are featureless.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1226
