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Balloch Hill

Fort(S) (Period Unassigned), Blade(S) (Flint)(Neolithic), Leaf Arrowhead(S) (Flint)(Neolithic), Lithic Implement(S) (Flint)(Neolithic), Lithic Implement(S) (Quartz)(Neolithic), Lithic Implement(S) (Pitchstone)(Neolithic), Scraper (Tool)(S) (Flint)(Neolithic), Scraper (Tool) (Pitchstone)(Neolithic)

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

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

Archaeology Notes

NR61NE 8 6777 1767.

(NR 6777 1766) Fort (NR)

OS 6" map, (1924)

Forts. A rocky knoll on the summit of Bealloch Hill (150.0m OD) is occupied by the remains of two successive forts. The site is easily approached from the W up a gentle slope, but on all other sides the ground falls steeply away. A modern quarry, now disused, has encroached upon and destroyed portions of the S defences of both forts.

The earlier fort is represented by the wasted remains of what has probably been a boulder-faced rubble-cored wall (I); except on the SE., where a few outer facing-stones are visible in situ, this is now defined merely by a grassy scrap. The area enclosed measures 58m by about 44m and the entrance was presumably situated in one or other of the large gaps on the N and E. The other fort, also defended by only a single wall, is patently of later date since it lies within the one already described and is in a better state of preservation. Its wall (II) now appears as a band of tumbled debris in which numerous outer facing-stones, and a few stones of the inner face, are visible; the wall-thickness at the one point where it can be measured is 3.0m. The fort measures 39.5m by 27.5m internally, and the entrance, on the ESE is about 2.4m in width.

Within the uneven interior there are the foundations of three small turf-walled structures of comparatively recent date, two of which partly overlie the debris of wall II.

RCAHMS 1971, visited 1960.

Excavations by Peltenburg from 1973-6 have revealed the existence of a third, outer, stone rampart. The only surface indications are on the west, about 6m from the middle rampart. In the area excavated (unspecified) it had fallen down the hill-slope, but many of its stones remained in the lower of its two flanking ditches which indicated a width of 2m for the rampart. The only evidence in front of the entrance was the slipped lowest course of a slight drystone wall. Finds from the rampart consisted of exceptionally well-knapped flints including a leaf- shaped arrowhead with all-over retouch. Other evidence of early occupation of the site includes the finding of an Middle Bronze Age double burial sealed below the inner rampart and its tumble. It consisted of two oval pots with unfired bases and glutinous clay 'covers'. Associated grave-goods included a bi-conical pygmy cup. The middle rampart is now interpreted as being of two phases the earlier being a revetment wall for an earthen bank which was once cobbled.

There were traces of occupation within this rampart and shallow post-holes underlay the inner rampart, but evidence for heaviest occupation came from within the inner rampart which the tumble suggests was of considerable height. This included an arc of post-holes, and a sleeper-trench running parallel to and 1m from the rampart as well as pits, hollows pottery, flints, charcoal and metal-slag.

The three internal structures were found to be late.

E J Peltenburg 1973; 1974; 1975; 1976.

Excavations of the fort will continue in 1978; a further interim report is pending. According to Dr Peltenberg (Glasgow University Extra Mural Department), the three ramparts are contemporary.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (J M) 3 October 1977.

A fifth season of excavation (in 1977) concentrated on the outermost terrace-rampart and two areas inside the fort. Further inspection of the rampart revealed insubstantial stonework between the shallow ditches. The construction now appears more like a marker, as at the unfinished fort at Glenehervie (NR71SW 7).

Traces of free-standing, curved timber buildings were located inside the main rampart. More cereal grains were recovered and finds include stone rubbers, two major types of pottery, a fragmentary crucible and a fibula.

Initial radiocarbon determinations for the cremated burials noted above are 1410 + 70 bc and five from the interior of the fort range from 350 + 90 to 170 + 70 bc. The sixth season was devoted to the excavation of 160 m sq in the NW of the interior of the fort. Approximately a third of the interior has now been excavated. Occupation deposits are extensive.

Six more C-14 assays from primary and secondary occupations lengthen the known chronological range for the fort from the 8th to the 1st centuries bc, but most are clustered in the 3rd - 1st centuries bc range.

E J Peltenburg 1978.

Activities

Field Visit (3 August 1955)

Visited by RCAHMS.

Note (9 October 2014 - 25 October 2016)

Two schemes of fortification, have been identified on the summit of Bealloch Hill, and though they appear to represent an inner circuit imposed eccentrically upon a multivallate outer perimeter, excavation was unable to demonstrate conclusively that they were successive. The inner measures about 40m from NW to SE by 27m transversely (0.08ha) within a stone wall reduced to a mound of rubble in which several runs of outer face and a few inner facing-stones are exposed; its entrance is on the ESE. The outer encloses an area measuring 58m from NW to SE by 44m transversely within a rampart reduced to little more than a scarp. Excavation suggested that the wall of the inner fort, which measured 3.5m in thickness, had been built in two separate phases, and at some stage was possibly furbished with a timber and wattle superstructure. The inner rampart of the outer defences was sectioned and shown to be about 2m thick, comprising a stone outer face with an earth and rubble core. The excavations also revealed traces of a third rampart outside it, with shallow dug slots to either side of its line; these outer defences also represented more than a single period of construction. Three subrectangular structures overlying the innermost wall were excavated and one produced most of the ten glass beads found on the site; these are not particularly helpful chronologically, and in the loose rubble may not be stratigraphically secure. Fragmentary traces of other structures suggesting sustained occupation were identified elsewhere in the interior.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 25 October 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2210

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