HER:  The West of Scotland Archaeology Service 848 (None)
NMR:  NM 71 NE 7 (22610)
SM:  None
NGR:  NM 7707 1643
X:  177070  Y:  716430  (OSGB36)
This fort occupies a rocky ridge set back from the shore on the SE coast of the island of Seil. The interior is oval on plan and measures about 93m from NE to SW by 44m transversely (0.36ha). The defences comprise an inner wall reduced largely to a scarp, which can be traced all round the circuit except along the precipitous NW flank, with one outer wall crossing the spine of the ridge on the NE, and two on the SW. Short runs and occasional stones of the outer face are visible along the lines of both the inner wall, and the two outer walls on the SW; there is also a large mass of vitrifaction embedded in the core of the inner wall at this end. There is an entrance at the SW end, and the gaps through the two outer ramparts are slightly staggered, curiously to expose the left-hand side of the visitor approaching the inner entrance. There may be a second entrance at the NE end, but it has been obscured by the construction of a later field-dyke on the inner rampart. The interior has been cultivated in post-medieval times, but in addition to the platform for a round-hosue shown on the plan drawn up by RCAHMS investigators, the OS suggested there were possible traces of three others.
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed
X:  -623802  Y:  7615930  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -5.603710713682979  Latitude:  56.287835338970915  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Argyll & Bute
Historic County:  Argyll
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Kilbrandon And Kilchattan
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:  20.0m
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:   | Robbed and overlain by a field-bank |
None
Earthwork Survey (1967):   | Discovery, plan and description (RCAHMS 1975, 64-5, no.125, fig 29; RCAHMS AGD 382/1-2) |
1st Identified Map Depiction (1971):   | Surveyed by the OS at 1:2500 |
Other (2006):   | Visited by WoSAS |
At least one house-platform and possibly three others
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
None
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
2:   | None |
2:   | Nothing visible of the second on the NE |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
1. Other Forms (North east):   | Unknown form |
2. Oblique (South west):   | Oblique approach exposing left side |
2. Simple Gap (South west):   | Staggered gaps through three walls |
Inner wall most of the way round, with one and two outer walls on the NE and SW respectively
Area 1:   | 0.36ha. |
Total:   | 0.36ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  0.49ha.
None
✗   | None |
✗   | None |
NE Quadrant:   | 2 |
SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
SW Quadrant:   | 3 |
NW Quadrant:   | 0 |
Total:   | 3 |
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 |
RCAHMS (1975) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the ancient monuments: volume 2: Lorn. 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