Eilean na Circe (5 of 5)
The masonry at the north-east end of the enclosure, which is described as 'indistinguishable from ordinary prehistoric workmanship', is 'greatly eroded but not perceptibly different in character from other sections'.  Various features of the wall, notably the straight south-east length and the sharp returns at several points, indicate that it is of late- or post-medieval origin.'

Eilean na Circe is indicated on early maps as 'Yl(en) Kerk' and the spot where the loch narrows before entering Loch Sween, was named 'Cheulis (caolas = channel) na Kerk'.

Local tradition has it that this island was formerly used as a refuge by 'the laird of Ob's'!  Canmore finish by stating that &quot;it was presumably attached to the lands of Oib Campbell or Oib Mor on the east shore.&quot;  Trying to untangle what that means using the internet is made more complicated by amateur genealogists who have interpreted Oib Campbell as being someone's name.  

Only a few hundred yards east of here there is another loch, parallel to this one, called Loch Coille-Bharr.  The narrow strip of rough and now heavily forrested land between the two lochs was called Oib or Oab.  There seems to have been at least two farms on it (or one farm known by different names at different times) called Kilmory Oib and Oib Campbell.  The Oib bit has dropped out of use and the 'township' is now called Kilmory.  It's ruined crofts and an ancient cross can be found in a clearing in the forest.  This island and its 'fortified dwelling' appear have belonged to Kilmory.

The lands of Kilmory belonged to the Campbells, but in 1785 a bankrupt Neil Campbell sold them to Neil Malcolm of Poltalloch.
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