Note
Date 29 January 2015 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1044139
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044139
Little is visible of the defences of a promontory fort reported at Dun Bhilascleiter by Captain F W Thomas. The promontory itself is spectacularly situated, with sheer cliffs dropping away on either side of the neck into deep ravines running in from the sea. A ruined cottage stands squarely across the neck and occupies a slightly raised rib of outcrop. This is also the most likely position for the earlier wall, which is described by Thomas as 22m in length and 3m in thickness (1890, 370); the only feature shown here on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map is a rectangle annotated 'Ruin' (Ross-shire, Isle of Lewis, 1853, sheet 6). In 1914 RCAHMS investigators described the present ruin as a modern house named Dun Tower and, presumably relaying local information, claimed that it had been built of stones taken from the earlier wall, which had had a well-built entrance with a guard chamber on its N side (RCAHMS 1928, 11, no.34). The only possible traces of this wall are a line of at least three and possibly five stones set at a slight angle to the footings of the cottage immediately outside its NE corner. Conceivably these belong to the inner face, while a low rock-face set back from the cliff edge on this side would have provided a convenient terminal for the wall on the N side of an entrance leading into the interior along the S margin of the promontory. Apart from a small outhouse and two earthfast blocks, the interior is featureless; the area on the crest of the promontory measures about 55m from NE to SW by 40m transversely (0.2ha), but below this on the NE the ground falls away in a fairly steep but accessible slope down to the rocks above the sea, extending the overall area of the interior to 0.34ha.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2769
