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Latitude: 56.3366 / 56°20'11"N
Longitude: -6.2144 / 6°12'52"W
OS Eastings: 139624
OS Northings: 724010
OS Grid: NM396240
Mapcode National: GBR CC1Z.29H
Mapcode Global: WGYD4.HZYM
Entry Name: Eilean nan Damh, fort
Scheduled Date: 20 March 2003
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM10628
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: fort (includes hill and promontory fort)
Location: Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon
County: Argyll and Bute
Electoral Ward: Oban South and the Isles
Traditional County: Argyllshire
The monument comprises a fort of prehistoric date, visible as upstanding structural remains. Forts of this type are characteristic of the Iron Age (about 500 BC to AD 500).
The monument is situated at approximately 10m OD and occupies a narrow promontory that forms the NW part of the island of Eilean nan Damh, Mull. The fort may be approached with relative ease across level ground on the SSE, but on all other sides there are sheer rock cliffs up to 10m in height. The promontory comprises an roughly leaf-shaped area measuring some 38m from N to S by 19m transversely, which has been cut off by a boulder-faced rubble-cored wall, drawn across the neck of the promontory and continued a little way along either flank.
The wall has been reduced by stone-robbing to a grass-grown stony bank about 3m thick and 0.8m high, in which only a short stretch of outer facing-stones and parts of the side-walls of the entrance-passage can still be seen. The entrance, which is centrally placed on the neck of the promontory, is about 1m wide and does not appear to have been checked for a door. The fort interior is level, with no obvious sign of internal features.
The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material is likely to survive. It is irregular in shape, with maximum dimensions of 49m NNW-SSE by 19m E-W, as marked in red on the accompanying map. It is bounded on the south by a modern field wall, which is itself excluded from the scheduled area; and defined on all other sides by the foot of the natural cliff.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NM32SE 10.
References:
RCAHMS (1980a) ARGYLL: AN INVENTORY OF THE MONUMENTS VOLUME 3: MULL, TIREE, COLL AND NORTHERN ARGYLL (EXCLUDING THE EARLY MEDIEVAL AND LATER MONUMENTS OF IONA), Edinburgh: HMSO, 83, No. 146.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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