Description

The monument consists of a ruinous seventeenth century tacksman's house built within the remains of an Iron Age fort which occupies the summit of an elongated knoll on a small coastal promontory, on the E side of the Sound of Mull.

The fort has been defended by two walls; the innermost encloses a D-shaped area measuring c. 50m (WNW-ESE) x 20m (NNE-SSW). The best preserved section is in the W, where the wall is visible as a stony bank (c. 2m thick). The entrance is situated in the NW, the outer jambs are comprised of two massive blocks. Although it has suffered much from robbing, the outer wall can be discerned crossing the level neck of the promontory at the foot of the knoll and following a natural crest line round its perimeter. The dwelling house, built over the foundations of the eastern portion of the fort, is of rubble probably robbed from the fort. The three-storeyed, rectangular house measures 16.3m (NW-SE) x 5.4m (NE-SW) within walls 0.9m thick.

The ground floor is sub-divided into three apartments, the entrance in the SW wall opening into the central room. The upper floors were accessed by a projecting stair turret, now ruinous, also in the SW wall at the SW angle of the central apartment. Only the SE portion of the building remains to its full height the remainder standing to no more than first-floor level. The SE portion of the house contained the residential block, suggested by the provision of fireplaces and large windows. The NW end, lit by small splayed windows, presumably held the kitchen and stores. An enclosure or annexes adjoined the NW wall. 30m to the N of the fort's entrance is a rectangular, internally divided, dry-stone building probably contemporary with the house.

The area to be scheduled is irregular, measuring a maximum of 170m (NW-SE) x 70m (NE-SW), to include the entire fortified promontory and the dwelling house.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as a defended site of Iron Age, re-occupied in the seventeenth century when a substantial residence, thought to have been the work of Allen M'Evan vic Ewin Maclean, recorded as tacksman of Killundine in 1671 and 1675, was constructed within the inner defences of the fort. As a site of diachronic complexity, the monument provides evidence and is likely to provide further evidence, through a combination of historical research and archaeological excavation, which may lead to clarification of the precise chronology and nature of settlement during the Iron Age phase of occupation; and latterly for the analysis of the forms and social functions of post-medieval domestic architecture in Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM 54 NE 3.

Reference:

RCAHMS (1980) Argyll 3, 72-3, No. 124; 190-1, No. 337.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland