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Mull, Loch Sguabain

Fortified Island (Medieval)

Site Name Mull, Loch Sguabain

Classification Fortified Island (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Caisteal Eoghainn A' Chinn Bhig; Loch Squabain Fortified Island

Canmore ID 22420

Site Number NM63SW 3

NGR NM 6311 3066

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22420

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

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

Archaeology Notes

NM63SW 3 6311 3066

(NM 6311 3066) Caisteal Eoghainn a' Chinn Bhig (NAT)

Crannog (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

Caisteal Eoghainn a' Chinn Bhig: A small island at the N end of Loch Sguabain has been fortified by a massive dry-stone perimeter wall, having a thickness in places of 3.3m and enclosing an ovoid measuring some 22m from NE to SW by 10m transversely. In the S sector, where it is best preserved, the outer face of the wall rises from the loch to a height of 1.2m, while in the interior, whose present ground-level is about 1.7m above water-level, the wall-face stands to a height of 0.9m. The wall is fragmentary on the SW, where there may have been an entrance; there is no evidence of an opening in the NE sector, although a scatter of small stones forming a possible causeway was observed in this area at the date of visit. The interior of the enclosure is featureless, except for a small circular shelter of recent construction in the N angle. It is not possible to say whether the island is of artificial origin; no bedrock was observed, but the interior is encumbered by vegetation and the shore by tumbled wall-material.

The island is traditionally associated with Ewen 'of the little head', a son of John MacLean, 5th of Lochbuie, who was active in the second quarter of the 16th century, and the tradition is confirmed by Monro's description in 1549 of 'Ellan strat stuaban' as an inhabited 'strength'. The remains may therefore be ascribed to the late medieval period, and it may be assumed that one or more domestic structures occupied the enclosure.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1973.

The remains at this site are generally as described by the RCAHMS (1980). The island is referred to as artificial by Gordon (1935) and Macnab (1970), and although walled, its construction could be that of a crannog.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (DWR), 22 May 1974.

S Gordon 1935; P A Macnab 1970.

Scheduled as 'Caisteal Eoghainn A' Chinn Bhig... crannog or artificial islet.'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 4 February 2003.

Activities

Aerial Photography (3 May 2007)

References

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