Monument record MHG51801 - LOCH SHIEL, GASKAN, EILEANAN COMHLACH

NM87SW 20 8036 7250
NM 8036 7250 The summit of this small rocky islet is occupied by a vitrified fort, roughly triangular on plan, measuring 11.5m NE/SW and narrowing to a point 17m to the SE. The summit is level and 4 to 5m above the surface of the loch. There are no ramparts and little in the way of tumble, but four sections of heavily vitrified rocks suggest the possibility of a former timber palisade with a stone-built timber-laced wall walk supporting imported soil (?) used to level off the interior.
The boat-landing on the NE side is paved with flat slabs on which lie four large chunks of vitrified rock. A V-shaped rocky gully leading from the SW side of the boat landing probably formed the entrance to the fort but now leads into the semi-subterranean antechamber of a corn-drying kiln, with a well preserved flue and bowl occupying the centre of the fort.
Sponsor: Sunart Oakwoods Research Group
P J Madden, J E Kirby, M Gascoigne, J Dye and C Friend, 2006. <1>