SC2697: Skye, Rubh' An Dunain | (Rudh' An Dunain) |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER: Highland HER MHG4902
NMR: NG 31 NE 1 (11021)
SM: 926
NGR: NG 3958 1597
X: 139580 Y: 815970 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
The fortification on the cliffs S of Loch na h'Airde on Rubha an Dunain is traditionally classified with brochs and duns, but as it survives today it comprises a single wall drawn in an arc across a headland and is thus a small promontory work, albeit that erosion around the SW and SE margins of the headland may have removed other elements of an enclosure on the cliff-top. The wall itself is set out in a shallow arc on a diameter of 40m-45m to block access from the N quarter. It measures 3.65m in thickness at the entrance on the NNW and still stands up to 3.6m in height where best preserved near the centre of the arc. The faces are neatly built in coursed stone with pinnings, the outer displaying a marked inward batter, and the inner a scarcement about 0.9m above the level of the interior. The now roofless entrance is about 0.95m wide at the outer end and is furnished with deep checks set some 1.15m back down the passage. A doorway in the inner face to the E of the entrance gives access into a gallery extending eastwards from this point within the thickness of the wall; this too has lost its lintels, but its sides have been carried up over 1.2m above the surviving lintel of the doorway, which probably indicates the presence of an upper gallery. At both ends the wall narrows towards the cliff-edge. The interior measures about 24m from ESE to WNW immediately to the rear of the wall by 11m transversely.
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Confirmed: | Falls well below the 0.2ha threshold, but the topographical position and defences indicate this is a small promontory fort |
X: -702282 Y: 7793001 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -6.308706 Latitude: 57.160532 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Bracadale
| Extant: | ✓ |
| Cropmark: | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed: | ✗ |
| Woodland: | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation: | ✗ |
| Parkland: | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing): | ✓ |
| Arable: | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken: | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland: | ✓ |
| Heath: | ✗ |
| Built-up: | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Contour Fort: | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort: | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort: | ✓ |
| Hillslope Fort: | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort: | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort: | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort: | ✗ |
| Hilltop: | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory: | ✓ |
| Inland Promontory: | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom: | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Ridge: | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp: | ✗ |
| Hillslope: | ✗ |
| Lowland: | ✗ |
| Spur: | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: ✗
| North: | ✗ |
| Northeast: | ✗ |
| East: | ✗ |
| Southeast: | ✗ |
| South: | ✗ |
| Southwest: | ✗ |
| West: | ✗ |
| Northwest: | ✗ |
| Level: | ✓ |
Altitude: 17.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✗ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| None: | No details. |
The RCAHMS collection contains a range of photographs taken by visitors to the site, as does Highland HER.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1877): | Annotated Dun on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Skye, 1881, sheet 49) |
| Other (1915): | Description (RCAHMS 1928, 144, no.483) |
| Other (1934): | Scheduled |
| Other (1961): | Visited by the OS |
| Other (1963): | Description by Euan Mackie (2007, 816-18) |
| Other (1986): | Description by Euan Mackie (2007, 816-18) |
| Other (2010): | Fieldwork project in the environs by Colin and Paula Martin (2010) |
Featureless, though the RCAHMS investigators in 1915 believed there were traces of internal structures
| None: | ✓ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Features: | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Geophysics: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Finds: | ✓ |
| Pottery: | ✗ |
| Metal: | ✗ |
| Metalworking: | ✗ |
| Human Bones: | ✗ |
| Animal Bones: | ✗ |
| Lithics: | ✗ |
| Environmental: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked: | ✗ |
| None: | ✓ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
See main summary
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 1: | Incomplete circuit |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
| Entrance 1 (Northwest): | Passage-way/Corridor |
Single wall cutting off the tip of a headland
| Enclosed Area 1: | 0.02ha. |
| Enclosed Area 2: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 3: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 4: | ✗ |
| Total Enclosed Area: | 0.0ha. |
Total Footprint Area: ✗
| Multi-period Enclosure System: | ✗ |
| Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate: | ✓ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
Gallery
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✓ |
| Rubble: | ✗ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex: | ✗ |
| Timber-framed: | ✗ |
| Timber-laced: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Gang Working: | ✗ |
Ditches: ✗
| Number of Ditches: |
| Annex: | ✗ |
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 185)
MacKie, E W (2007) The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC-AD 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands. BAR British series 444(II), 444(1), 2 V Oxford
Martin and Martin, C and P (2010a) 'Rubh' an Dunain, Highland (Bracadale parish), field survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 11 (2010), 88
RCAHMS (1928) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Ninth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. HMSO: Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C2697
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31099087
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.