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Cnoc nan Dubh Leitire,meeting place 1600m south of,Mull

A Scheduled Monument in Oban South and the Isles, Argyll and Bute

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Coordinates

Latitude: 56.5352 / 56°32'6"N

Longitude: -6.0855 / 6°5'7"W

OS Eastings: 148903

OS Northings: 745611

OS Grid: NM489456

Mapcode National: GBR CCCF.TKD

Mapcode Global: WGZDC.HZCX

Entry Name: Cnoc nan Dubh Leitire,meeting place 1600m S of,Mull

Scheduled Date: 12 March 1993

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM5656

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Secular: settlement, including deserted, depopulated and townships

Location: Kilninian and Kilmore

County: Argyll and Bute

Electoral Ward: Oban South and the Isles

Traditional County: Argyllshire

Description

The monument comprises a site which has been identified as the former site of the principal fairs and markets of Mull, held there in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, if not earlier. It is situated in a forestry clearing immediately NE of a conspicuous flat-topped rock outcrop.

About 50 turf-walled buildings are distributed in two main groups: the smaller occupies ground sloping NE from the rock outcrop; the remainder are dispersed over the summit of a low knoll separated by marshy ground from the smaller group.

The turf-built structures are of a consistent and distinctive plan: a typical example is rectangular in plan and measures 6.1m in length by 2.7m over walls 0.6m in thickness; in many cases one end-wall is represented by a substantial mound of turf and stone, sometimes with internal facing stones in situ, while the other end is left open to provide an entrance.

The narrow central space has a central bench or ridge of turf about 0.3m thick and running the entire length of the building. Most of the entrances face downhill away from the prevailing wind and several of the buildings are placed so as to gain shelter from their neighbours. These buildings were the footings of tents or huts. The superstructures would probably have been of blankets, as at other fairgrounds.

The area to be scheduled measures 195m from SW to NE by 125m transversely, to include the fairground and an area around in which associated remains may survive, as marked in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a rare and fragile type of monument with well-defined field characteristics. It has the potential to provide information about post-medieval temporary or seasonal habitation and associated activities at fairgrounds or meeting places.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM 44 NE 5.

Reference:

RCAHMS 1980, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll (excluding the early medieval and later monuments of Iona), Edinburgh, No. 368.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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