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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
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
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
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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