Carnasserie Castle
16th Century
NM 838 008
On our way out of the valley on the way to Oban we stopped 2 miles north of Kilmartin to visit this site. The carpark is signed and the tower is an interesting example of 16th century architecture with well preserved interior details. What does this have to do with neolithic walks and stones? As it happens there are two cupmarked stones here.
Cupmarked
Stone 1
NM 839 004
As you walk out of the carpark through the gap in the wall turn left and take the path that leads to the castle. After only about 5 metres look to the right in the grass about 3 metres from the path and there is a small stone 0.5 by 0.4 which has two faint shallow cupmarks that are about 80mm diameter. The stone is about 20 metres west of the cottage near the gate.
Cupmarked Stone 2
Carnasserie Castle
NM 838 008
Walk up to the castle about ¼ mile up the path and climb up to it. There is a stone 9 metres west of the NE corner of the tower beside a tree. It is only about 0.7 by 0.4 metres and is covered in moss but we counted 6 cupmarks and part of a 7th that measure around 100mm diameter by a depth of 50mm. The information from the Kilmartin book suggests it is a fragment of a larger slab. The rest is probably part of the tower. There are good views from the well maintained tower and it’s worth the walk for this alone.
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