2010

NS3278 : Mound east of Ardmore Point

taken 14 years ago, near to Ardmore, Argyll And Bute, Scotland

Mound east of Ardmore Point
Mound east of Ardmore Point
The dark, curving structure which is shown here, exposed at low tide just off the south-eastern shore of Ardmore Point, is also shown on the 25-inch-to-the-mile OS map that was surveyed in 1860; there, it is dotted in rather lightly, but is shown with very much the same outline as it has at the present day.

These remains are not to be confused with the NS3178 : Remains of a quay located 400 metres further along the shoreline.

The structure in the present picture is unlikely to be a yair (fish trap); David Murray, in his book "Old Cardross" (1880) lists all six yairs to be found on the shore between Ardoch and Craigendoran, and this is not one of them; see NS3576 : Ardoch Yair.

See the end-note for current thinking about these remains.

For the mound itself, see NS3278 : Mound east of Ardmore Point and (closer) NS3278 : Mound east of Ardmore Point.
Dark mounds east of Ardmore Point

A large mound of dark rocks at NS32307829, connected to the shore by a curving line of similar material, was formerly thought to be either a ballast mound beside an old landing place, or the remains of an old yair (fish-trap).

As of 2017, the explanation that this mound and another one not far to the south (see below) were ballast mounds could still be found on an interpretation panel at Ardmore. However, the panel, though reflecting up-to-date thinking when it was installed, has been there for a number of years, and the site has been re-examined since then.

A later opinion was that the mound is natural. See LinkExternal link (at Canmore) for the current thinking about the site.

At the time of writing (2017), the Canmore entry points out that the mound is made of the same material as is found on the adjacent shore, and that there is a similar mound about 175 metres to the south of it (NS32277812), which likewise seemed to be natural.

The following comments from David Murray's "Old Cardross — A Lecture" (1880) are quoted, not because they shed any light on the nature of the mounds, but for interest, in that they preserve some of the old place-names of this area. In an appendix to that work, Murray lists several old place-names in connection with the White Bay, that is, "the bay on the south-east site of the Hill of Ardmore":

"The Kyloch — the landing place in the White Bay"
"The Big Layer/Lair — in the White Bay"
"The Little Layer/Lair — in the White Bay"

The main body of the book does not elaborate upon those names, except to observe that "in the White Bay on the south-east side of the Hill ... the remains of a jetty (the Big and Little Layer) are still to be seen"(*). Given their similarity to the Black Lair — Link — (a dark rock-mass, which Murray also mentions, at the mouth of the Leven), it seems possible that "the Big Lair" and "the Little Lair" were names for the two dark mounds; this, though, is just speculation on my part. Nevertheless, the example of Black Lair does show that, locally, the term "lair" could refer to such a feature.

It is not clear what the name "the Kyloch" referred to. Again, I can only speculate, but the name could have referred to the general area of the two mounds, if they were (at that time, and not necessarily correctly) viewed as having once collectively been a landing place; Murray does indeed refer to "the Big and Little Layer" as being the "remains of a jetty", although he does not explicitly equate them with the Kyloch.

(*) The fact that Murray equates the "remains of a jetty" (which may or may not have been "the Kyloch") with "the Big and Little Layer" shows that it comprised two distinct features. On that basis, it is unlikely that Murray's "remains of a jetty" could refer to the ruined quay — Link — that can be seen a little further clockwise round Ardmore Point: that quay, which was probably associated with a nearby ferry house, is a single well-defined structure, and not a composite of two distinct features.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Lairich Rig and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Estuary, Marine Coastal Place: Ardmore Point Primary Subject: Mound Category: Shore
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
NS3278, 114 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Lairich Rig   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 3 September, 2010   (more nearby)
Submitted
Thursday, 9 September, 2010
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 3229 7829 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:58.0940N 4:41.3226W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 3219 7837
View Direction
Southeast (about 135 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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