Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 2136 (None)
NMR: NR 34 NE 11 (37533)
SM: None
NGR: NR 3712 4675
X: 137120 Y: 646750 (OSGB36)
This fort occupies the rocky summit of Borraichill Mor rising above the moorland to the NE of Port Ellen. Sub-square on plan, it measures about 90m across within a stone wall about 2.2m in average thickness. The outer face incorporates massive blocks and on the NE stands up to 1.8m high, and though the inner face is not so well-preserved this stands 1.1m high on the SE. The main entrance, which is choked with rubble, is in a shallow gully on the NE and forms a passage 2.8m in length by 1.5m in breadth. In addition narrow transverse passages 0.7m and 0.9m wide respectively can be seen within the thickness of the wall on the ESE and W respectively, that on the ESE retaining several lintels. Apart from a later enclosure formed by the insertion of a wall into a shallow gully on the WSW, the interior is featureless.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -687892 Y: 7487677 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -6.17944102059768 Latitude: 55.64302050901851 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Argyll & Bute
Historic County: Argyll
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kildalton And Oa
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✓ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| Contour Fort | ✓ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✓ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 155.0m
N/A
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Small enclosure formed between the main wall and a later boundary inserted into a gully on the SW side |
First depicted in 1878 on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1882, sheet 232.9), it was visited by Gordon Childe (1935a, 82 no.10, 84), who considered it to be a 'hilltop town' though in no way conforming to his definition (Childe 1935b). It was surveyed in 1975 by RCAHMS during the preparation of the County Inventory for Argyll (RCAHMS 1984,81-2, no.134), and surveyed by the OS at 1:2500 in 1978. It has also been photographed from the air by RCAHMS in 1979 and 2006.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1878): | Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Argyll and Bute 1882, sheet 232.9) |
| Other (1935): | Visited by Gordon Childe (1935a, 82 no.10, 84) |
| Earthwork Survey (1975): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1984,81-2, no.134; RCAHMS DC119-20) |
| Other (1978): | Surveyed at 1:10.000 by the OS |
| Other (2007): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
Apart from the later enclosure the interior is featureless
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Later enclosure
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 3: | Large sections of the wall have disappeared, particularly along the NW side. |
| 2: | Main entrance, with at least two others revealed by transverse structural elements within the thickness of the wall |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | Main entrance |
| 2. Postern Gate (East): | Still retains lintels |
| 3. Postern Gate (West): | None |
Single wall, probably once continuous, but lost along the outcrops on the NW flank
| Area 1: | 0.76ha. |
| Total: | 0.76ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
Childe, V G (1935a) 'Notes on some duns in Islay'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 69 (1934-5), 81-4
Childe, V G (1935b) The Prehistory of Scotland. Keegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & co
RCAHMS (1984) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 5: Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay. HMSO: Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1