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Torr a' Mhanaich, fort

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

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Coordinates

Latitude: 56.5885 / 56°35'18"N

Longitude: -6.1898 / 6°11'23"W

OS Eastings: 142859

OS Northings: 751923

OS Grid: NM428519

Mapcode National: GBR CC39.FLC

Mapcode Global: WGYBZ.WNNJ

Entry Name: Torr a' Mhanaich, fort

Scheduled Date: 30 January 2003

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM10559

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: fort (includes hill and promontory fort)

Location: Kilninian and Kilmore

County: Argyll and Bute

Electoral Ward: Oban South and the Isles

Traditional County: Argyllshire

Description

The monument comprises a fort of prehistoric date, visible as upstanding earthworks.

The monument lies on the SE end of the summit of Torr a' Mhanaich, a wooded rocky ridge, which rises to a height of 15m OD immediately W of the former manse at Dervaig. Except on the SW, where there is a cliff up to 6m high, access to the summit is relatively easy, a convenient approach being provided by a narrow sloping ascent which leads obliquely upward through a natural break in the rock-face on the W.

The fort measures internally about 27m from NW to SE by a maximum of 26m transversely, and has been defended by a single wall, now reduced to a grass-grown spread of rubble, in which a few outer facing-stones remain in position. There is no trace of walling visible along the SW side, but the height of the rock-face may have reduced, if not removed, the need for such a substantial structure in this sector. The entrance is on the NW, and two of the stones that form the lowest course of the SW side-wall of the passage are still in position.

Forts of this type are characteristic of the Iron Age (about 500 BC to AD 500).

The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material is likely to survive. It is circular in shape with a diameter of 30m, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to an understanding of prehistoric defended settlement and economy. Its importance is increased by its proximity to other monuments of potentially contemporary date.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM 45 SW 17.

Bibliography:

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, 89-90, No. 163.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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