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Milton

Township (Post Medieval)

Site Name Milton

Classification Township (Post Medieval)

Canmore ID 153811

Site Number NS07SW 48

NGR NS 0352 7478

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/153811

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Inverchaolain
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Activities

Note (1988)

A township, comprising four roofed buildings, one unroofed building and three enclosures is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Argyllshire 1869, sheet clxxxii). One unroofed building and one enclosure are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1979).

Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 29 September 1998.

Field Visit (16 April 2019 - 13 August 2019)

NS 03533 74770 The OS 25-inch map (Argyllshire and Buteshire CLXXXII.16, surveyed 1864, published 1868) shows five rectangular roofed structures which we designate A–D, and one unroofed, E, together with three enclosures. They are in a roughly square area c100m E–W and N–S at an altitude between 40m and 50m. The ground slopes steeply down to the Milton River which bounds the site on the N and W sides. The site is wooded, mainly around the perimeter. On the N side the river runs E to W, then turns S along the W edge of the site then downhill to the Kyles of Bute shore, past the site shown on the 25-inch map, c200m N of the shore, of a corn mill, an inn and a smithy, all now demolished. The Milton name of the site under investigation evidently implies an association with the corn mill, and may have been the location of the miller’s house. To the E of the site, the ground slopes gently uphill, and to the S it slopes down to the shore, some 500m distant.

All the structures are dry stone, though A has a small mortared modification. A, B, and C form a close group in the SE corner of the site; E is a short distance to the NW. The 25-inch map shows a track running up to them from the S. This has been replaced by a surfaced road which passes close by on the E and continues uphill to the SE to a modern reservoir. D is c60m NNE of the main group, at the S end of an enclosure which is clearly identifiable. The other enclosures are obscured by vegetation.

There is a knocking stone between A and E, 6.3m from the N corner of A in a 340º direction. It is a flat-topped boulder 1.2 x 0.8m containing a circular bowl 0.25m in diameter and 0.1m deep.

A and B are substantial, with B the better preserved. Much of A has tumbled, whereas B retains much of its NE and SW gables. C, D and E are very low fragmentary ruins.

The long walls of A are at 310º, approximately NW–SE. The long walls of B are at 40º, at right angles to A, and its SE long wall is in line with the SE short wall of A on the NE side, so that A and B form an L-shaped group, with a 1.6m gap or lane between them. The GPS position at the corner of B at the gap is NS 03533 74770.

A is overall 5.9 x 15.4m externally with walls 0.6m wide. It is partitioned by a cross wall, forming a SE compartment (1) of internal length c5.0m and a NW compartment (2) c8.6m internally. There is much tumble within at the SE end of compartment 1 and at both ends of compartment 2. There is a 0.9m wide doorway in the NE long wall of compartment 1 and a possible window in the opposite long wall. Compartment 2 has a possible window in the NE wall and also in the opposite wall. Part of the NW gable is standing; however, the SE gable wall has been modified: the centre section of the wall has been rebuilt in loose dry stone form and capped to form a straight-topped wall.

At the W end of the NW short wall there is a 1.5m gap. At the corner of the NW wall is a rectangular stone column or pillar 0.6m wide on the NW side and 1.25m wide on the SW side with a second gap 2m wide in the SW wall next to this pillar. A second, lower pillar is on the other side of the 2m gap. Both are mortared, whereas the rest of A is dry stone, as are the other structures on this site. A vertical groove at a corner of both pillars running the full length, and horizontal grooves on the two facing surfaces, indicate that the gap had been boarded up, probably to keep animals out of the dangerous area of tumble. In addition, the OS 25-inch map shows an OS surveyors’ benchmark precisely at that corner of A where the larger pillar is located, and that pillar, stabilised by mortaring, may have been used for the benchmark.

A yard or garden is attached to the NW end of A. A rectangular area 8.3m long and approximately the width of A extends from its NW short wall up to a low stone wall. Beyond that is a slightly raised area of the same width and 1.6m long, and beyond that, an area of tumbled stones 5.2m wide and 2.3m long, with the total length of this feature 12.2m from A.

The gap between A and B is a 1.6m wide lane that continues along the side of the garden, kerbed on the opposite NE side. Adjacent to that on the NE side is a raised area 0.2m wide whose outer edge is 2.9m from the wall of A. Along this edge is a line of iron fence posts. Two are closer together indicating that there was a gate. Structure E and the knocking stone described above lie adjacent to the fence line on the NE side. Elsewhere, to the W and S of A, iron fencing survives in places though partly broken, and a gate survives in the S stretch where a second track leading uphill from the river approaches.

B is 8.9 x 5.4m externally, with walls 0.6m wide. Its long wall is at 40º, perpendicular to the long wall of A. A low stone and turf wall attached to the short NE wall, roughly rectangular, forms an annexe 4m wide extending out 3.3m, with an entrance gap in its NW wall. The entrance to B is in the long SE wall, a doorway with a clear edge on the NE side but the other side broken and unclear. The width can only be estimated to be c0.7m. There is a 1m wide window in the same wall 1.5m from the NE end. The opposite long wall is featureless. The exterior of the SW wall shows a horizontal line at a height of c2.0m indicating that a structure had been built against it. This structure was evidently a roof across the passageway between A and B: the 1898 revision of the OS 25-inch map shows the gap to be roofed; it was unroofed on the 1st Edition OS map of 1864.

Both end gables of B are substantial, and are double-walled; the NE gable stands up to c2.0m outside and c3.0m inside. The SW gable measures 1.9m up to roof level and from this its total surviving height is estimated to be at least 4m.

All that remains of structure C are parts of the two walls forming its NW corner, 8m NE of the annexe of B: a 1.5m stretch of low walling in the 70º direction and a 2.8m length at 160º. It is likely that C was largely destroyed when the surfaced road replaced the earlier track to the settlement. A cup mark reported in 1971 (Canmore ID: 40496) on a boulder in the area of C was not located; however, a long boulder matching the dimensions given, 1m long, 0.5m wide and 0.25m high, lies next to C. There is no cup mark on the visible surface. It may be that the boulder was turned over during the road works, but this was not investigated further.

D is at NS 03548 74827, c60m distant on a 15º line from the S corner of B. It lies at the S end of a large enclosure and has been badly disturbed. In the revised 1898 25-inch map D is absent and enclosures have been added at the S end, as well as enclosures elsewhere. These were not investigated. A small rectangular structure shown to the N of D was not located. The NW corner section of D survives as a 2.6m stretch of walling in the 40º direction and 3.5m at 130º. The greatest wall height is 1.5m at the corner. There are traces of walls to the SW.

E is shown as an unroofed structure on the OS 25-inch map of the 1864 survey to the N of A. Part of the N and S walls survive. The S wall is c13m NNW of A. It is 5.8m long, aligned at 60º, and is composed of large boulders. The N wall is probably represented by a 3.0m long parallel line of smaller boulders. The distance between the two walls is 6.1m measured externally.

David Dorren and Nina Henry

(Source: DES Vol 21)

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