Field Visit
Date April 1984
Event ID 1102581
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1102581
This dun is situated on a hill 880m WSW of Torinturk overlooking West Loch Tarbert from the N (Campbell and Sandeman 1964). It occupies the NE part of the summit, while the SW portion and a lower terrace to the NW are enclosed by outworks.
The dun wall, which survives up to 2m in height in five courses, is about 3.25m thick and encloses an area some 13m in diameter; built of large blocks, it rises with a pronounced batter on both faces. The outer face, founded well below the level of the summit on the SE, can be traced for much of its length, although the inner face is less well preserved and is partly concealed by fallen masonry. projecting from the inner face on the NW and S, just above the present level of the interior, there are a number of slabs forming a scarcement-like strcture, which measures between 0.33m and 0.45m in width. Traces of a rough medial face can be seen at various points within the thickness of the wall, and on the S, where the walling is low, a short stretch of what may be an intramural passage, with one lintel still in place, is also visible.
The entrance is on the N. At its inner end the passage is about 1m wide, and at the outer end the corner-stone on the W side is set back nearly 1m inside the line of its counterpart at the E corner. The E side-wall is checked for a door 1.5m from its outer end, and there are traces of a bar-hole just behind it. A gap in the same side-wall a short distance inwards has probably been caused by collapse.
On the W the outer face of the dun wall is interrupted by an opening 0.8m wide and 0.95m high, which is spanned by a massive triangular lintel. The opening gives access to a passage, partly lintelled and partly corbelled, which descends and turns sharply as it leads into the thickness of the wall. The inner portion of the passage is blocked with stones, and without excavation it is not possible to establish whether or not it connects with the adjacent gap in the inner face of the dun wall; that the feature may have been an unusual kind of postern is not impossible.
The principal outer wall springs from the dun wall on the S and ends at the foot of the summit knoll on the N. The outer face stands up to 2m high in nine courses, and the thickness of the wall varies between 3m and 4m; the core material consists of smaller stones than those found in the dun wall, and much use was made of rock outcrops. The entrance is at its N end. On the SW there are intermittent remains of a second remains of a second outwork enclosing a lower terrace. There is no evidence to support the suggestion that the dun was built later than the principal outwork (Childe and Graham 1943).
There are several secondary structures built over or against the outworks, and it is recorded (Campbell and Sandeman 1964) that iron slag was recovered from one of them early in the 20th century. A quern-stone, perhaps of medieval date, was noted within the interior of the dun on the date of visit.
Visited April 1984
RCAHMS 1988
