Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2697 Skye, Rubh' An Dunain, Inverness-shire (Rudh' An Dunain)

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Highland HER MHG4902 (None)

NMR:  NG 31 NE 1 (11021)

SM:  926

NGR:  NG 3958 1597

X:  139580  Y:  815970  (OSGB36)

Summary

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.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -702282  Y:  7793001  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -6.308706231006535  Latitude:  57.16053228311737  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:  Inverness-shire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Bracadale

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant  
Cropmark  
Likely Destroyed  

Land Use

None

Current Use:
Woodland  
Commercial Forestry Plantation  
Parkland  
Pasture (Grazing)  
Arable  
Scrub/Bracken  
Bare Outcrop  
Heather/Moorland  
Heath  
Built-up  
Coastal Grassland  
Other  

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort  
Partial Contour Fort  
Promontory Fort  
Hillslope Fort  
Level Terrain Fort  
Marsh Fort  
Multiple Enclosure Fort  

Topographic Position

Position:
Hilltop  
Coastal Promontory  
Inland Promontory  
Valley Bottom  
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop  
Ridge  
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp  
Hillslope  
Lowland  
Spur  

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North  
Northeast  
East  
Southeast  
South  
Southwest  
West  
Northwest  
Level  

Altitude:  17.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.

Reliability:  D - None

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC  
1200BC - 800BC  
800BC - 400BC  
400BC - AD50  
AD50 - AD400  
AD400 - AD 800  
Post AD800  
Unknown  

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

The RCAHMS collection contains a range of photographs taken by visitors to the site, as does Highland HER.

Investigations:
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)

Interior Features

Featureless, though the RCAHMS investigators in 1915 believed there were traces of internal structures

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

None

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features  
Round Stone Structures  
Rectangular Stone Structures  
Curvilinear Platforms  
Other Roundhouse Evidence  
Pits  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  

Excavation

None

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Roads/Tracks  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  
Nothing Found  

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics  
Pits  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Roads/Tracks  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  
Nothing Found  

Finds

None

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds  
Pottery  
Metal  
Metalworking  
Human Bones  
Animal Bones  
Lithics  
Environmental  
Other  

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked  
None  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roads/Tracks  
Other  

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
1:   Incomplete circuit

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:
1. Passage-way/Corridor (North west):   None

Enclosing Works

Single wall cutting off the tip of a headland

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.02ha.
Total:   0.02ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   1
SE Quadrant:   0
SW Quadrant:   0
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   1

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  
Unknown  

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  

Surface Evidence

Gallery

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None  
Earthen Bank  
Stone Wall  
Rubble  
Wall-walk  
Evidence of Timber  
Vitrification  
Other Burning  
Palisade  
Counter Scarp Bank  
Berm  
Unfinished  
Other  

Excavated Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None  
Earthen Bank  
Stone Wall  
Murus Duplex  
Timber-framed  
Timber-laced  
Vitrification  
Other Burning  
Palisade  
Counter Scarp Bank  
Berm  
Unfinished  
No Known Excavation  
Other  

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✗   None

Number of Ditches:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

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



Terms of Use

This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and should be cited as:

Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk


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