Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2752 Skye, Dun Hallin, Inverness-shire

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Highland HER MHG4754 (None)

NMR:  NG 25 NE 1.01 (10905)

SM:  916

NGR:  NG 2565 5928

X:  125650  Y:  859288  (OSGB36)

Summary

The well-preserved broch known as Dun Hallin, with its externally battered wall still standing 3.4m high, occupies the SE angle of a larger enclosure on the level summit of a rocky hillock. Roughly triangular in plan, this enclosure measures about 50m from E to W by a maximum of 40m transversely (0.15ha) within a wall that extended all round the margin of the summit. No inner facing-stones are visible, but runs of the outer face survive on the NW flank of the hillock, where the wall was probably about 3.3m in thickness. The position of the entrance is not known, though that of the broch faces SE. The interior to the N and W of the broch has been cultivated in low rigs.

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed

Location

X:  -733206  Y:  7871365  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -6.5864989443906365  Latitude:  57.54031147192213  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Highland

Historic County:  Inverness-shire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Duirinish

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:  140.0m

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:   Stone robbing and cultivated in the post-medieval period

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

None

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1875):   Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Inverness-shire, Skye, 1880, sheet 9.11)
Earthwork Survey (1921):   Plan and description (RCAHMS 1928, 158-9, no.509, fig 226; RCAHMS IND 37/1-2)
Other (1936):   Scheduled
Other (1961):   Visited by the OS
Other (1963):   Visited by Euan MacKie (2007)
Other (1984):   Description and sketch-plan (MacSween 42-3, fig 11)
Other (1985):   Description by Euan MacKie (2007, 814-15)
Other (1985):   Description and sketch-plan (Swanson 1985, 851-2 cited by MacKie 2007, 814-15)
Other (1990):   Description by RCAHMS

Interior Features

Featureless apart from cultivation rigs and the broch

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

Broch

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

None known

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
0:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   Not known

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:No related records

Enclosing Works

Single wall

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.15ha.
Total:   0.15ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   The wall of the broch is excluded

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   1
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   1
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

None

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

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 (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

Swanson, C B (1988) A contribution to the understanding of brochs, Unpublished Ph D thesis. University of 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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