_Account of some remarkable Ancient Ruins recently discovered in the Highlands. In a series of Letters by John Williams, mineral engineer._ Edinburgh, 1777.
Craig Phadrig, near Inverness, when examined by Williams, presented the peculiarity of two vitrified walls, the remains of which could be traced quite round the inclosed area, while the remains of a third were visible at the entrance at the east end. The outer wall was founded on the rock, about 6 or 8 paces distant from the inner wall. Its greatest height did not then exceed 4 or 5 feet, but he found large masses of it adhering to the rock where it was first run. The area enclosed was from 80 to 90 paces long by about 30 broad.
The fort at Finhaven, near Aberlemno, in Forfarshire, is an irregular oblong with rounded corners, about 150 paces in length by about 36 in breadth. The walls are greatly dilapidated, and but a small part of their height is now visible. They appear to have been about 10 feet in thickness, and in some places there is still 4 or 5 feet of the height remaining. The vitrifaction is very unequal, and many parts of the wall scarcely show the action of fire, while in others the melted matter has run down among the interstices of the stones.
Dun Mac Uisneachan, in Loch Etive, was described by Dr. Maculloch in 1824, and more recently by Dr. R. Angus Smith, who made extensive investigations of the area of the fort in 1873-4.[102] It occupies the top of an oblong hill which is either very steep or actually precipitous on all sides. The area enclosed is about 250 yards long by 50 yards broad. It is encompassed on the verge of the hill by a wall which is still in some places from 5 to 6 feet high. The points made out by the investigation are thus stated by Dr. Angus Smith—(1) the weaker parts of the dun or defensible position were walled, the outer wall or part of wall being vitrified; (2) the wall of the western part is double; the outer being vitrified, the inner built in layers of flat stone, 9 feet being the distance from surface to surface; (3) the walls were built without mortar as in all these forts; (4) vitrified portions of walling were found overlying portions built in the ordinary manner and unvitrified. This I regard as the most interesting and important point ascertained by Dr. Angus Smith’s investigations regarding the construction of the so-called Vitrified Forts. It shows distinctly that the wall of a Vitrified Fort is not always, and in every part, a vitrified wall; and it suggests that instead of taking this for granted, in every case in which signs of vitrifaction are observed, the inquiry ought to be directed to the determination of the extent of such partial vitrifaction, wherever it is found to have been partial. Another interesting result of his researches was the discovery of the remains of dwellings within the area of the fort. They were rectangular constructions, having dry-built walls about 2 feet thick. A large refuse-heap of bones of the common domestic animals was found near them. Some querns, a portion of an iron sword, an iron ring about 2 inches diameter, and a convex plate of bronze 1¼ inch diameter, ornamented with concentric circles, the hollows of which were filled with red and the centre with yellow enamel, were found in the course of the excavations. The character of this relic, with its red and yellow enamels, is closely allied to that of the similarly enamelled bronzes which have been already described, some of which have been found in constructions of a very peculiar type which have yet to be noticed.