Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2708 Skye, Dun Liath, Inverness-shire

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Highland HER MHG44721 (None)

NMR:  NG 37 SE 2 (11206)

SM:  2850

NGR:  NG 3598 7002

X:  135980  Y:  870020  (OSGB36)

Summary

This small fort is situated on a hillock backing onto the shore, which lies at the foot of the cliffs along the W flank. Oval on plan, it measures 42m from NNW to SSE by 24m transversely within a single wall, which is pierced by an entrance a little over 1m wide on the E. The wall is between 2.4m and 3.6m in thickness where best preserved on the E and S, still standing about 1.5m high above the interior on the S; elsewhere it seems to reduce in thickness and most of the masonry has fallen away along the cliff-edge on the seaward side. The wall is thickest where the hillock is most accessible along the E and S flanks, where it has been constructed with an intramural gallery; rather than a continuous feature, however, this is broken into at least four segments, each with an independent entrance from the interior. Immediately outside the wall on the SE there is a row of three upright stones, which Richard Feachem compared to a diminutive chevaux de frise (1963, 186), and beyond this traces of another wall reduced to little more than an intermittent line of outer face, but, rather than the remains of an outwork, the OS surveyors suggested that this might belong to an earlier fortification, presumably on account of its relatively poor state of preservation; other walls on the slopes are almost certainly the remains of later field-banks.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -715355  Y:  7892604  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -6.42614528329503  Latitude:  57.64256907414811  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:  Inverness-shire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Kilmuir

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:  30.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

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:   A stone macehead from the site is in Dundee Museum (no. 1956-370)
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 2009

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1875):   Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Inverness-shire, Skye, 1878, sheet 3.15)
Earthwork Survey (1921):   Plan and description (RCAHMS 1928, 169-70, no.541, fig 242; RCAHMS IND 40/1)
Other (1963):   Description by Euan Mackie (2007)
Excavation (1964):   Trial trench by Euan Mackie (1965)
Other (1969):   Scheduled
Other (1971):   Visited by the OS
Other (1984):   Description and sketch-plan based on the RCAHMS plan (MacSween 53, fig 77)

Interior Features

A supposed hut-circle identified by RCAHMS investigators in the S end of the interior was though to be a fortuitous arrangement of rubble by the OS. The interior is otherwise featureless.

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

Few sherds of coarse pottery, a hammer stone and two iron objects found in excavation. A stone macehead from the site is in Dundee Museum (no. 1956-370)

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:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (East):   None

Enclosing Works

Single wall with galleries; possible outer wall on one side

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.08ha.
Total:   0.08ha.

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:   2
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   2

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

Galleries

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

MacKie, E W (1965) Excavations on two galleried duns on Skye in 1964-5 (Interim report)

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

MacSween, A (1985) The Broch, Duns and Enclosures of Skye. Northern Archaeology 5-6 (1984-85), 1-57

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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