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Field Visit
Date 19 May 1915
Event ID 1104376
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1104376
Dun Sleadale, Talisker.
Dun Sleadale is a broch which though in a ruinous condition is rather better preserved in parts than the great majority of this class of buildings in Skye. It occupies the south-western and higher extremity of a short, narrow, rocky ridge, in a high glen about 400 yards west of the Sleadale Burn, barely ¾ mile south of Talisker House, at an elevation of over 500 feet above sea-level. To the west there is rising ground, so that the sea, although little more than ½ mile distant, is not within sight. In this respect it is unlike the other Skye brochs. The ridge rises some 20 feet on the west and about 35 feet on the east above the hillside. The outer face of the wall stands 8 feet high on the south-east and 5 feet on the east and north-west ; on the south-west only the foundation course remains, and on the south-south-east where there is a high knob of rock it has disappeared. In the interior there is a great mass of fallen stones hiding much of the structure. Building is visible along nearly the whole of the northern arc, and, at the north-north-west it stands 4 feet above 7 feet of fallen stones. Towards the south-east about 4 feet remains in position, but this is obscured by debris. The internal diameter varies from 39 feet from north-west to south-east to 37 feet 6 inches from north-east to south-east. The wall at its present summit generally is about 9 feet thick, but at the entrance, which is placed towards the east-north-east, it is 10 feet 3 inches thick, this measurement being nearer the foundation. At the outside the entrance passage is 2 feet 10 inches wide, but about 3 feet in there are checks on either side that on the north side is best preserved, measuring 6 inches in depth. Between the checks and the inside the walls curve slightly, giving a width of 4 feet 2 inches about the centre of the passage, and 3 feet 1 inch on the inside. The interior of the entrance is blocked with stones but one lintel remains in position. In the wall some 3 feet 6 inches to the right of the entrance the end of a narrow gallery is seen, while on the opposite side, at a distance of 5 feet, part of another gallery with its lintel stones in position remains over a distance of 5 feet. It measures about 3 feet 3 inches in width, and is half full of stones. Nearly opposite the entrance the doorway, leading into a gallery within the wall, in a very ruinous state can be detected. The gallery extends to the right, and on the north-west about 5 feet of the lintels of the lower gallery maintain their position. Above them one course of the outer wall of an upper gallery is seen. The wall here is slightly displaced, but the upper gallery seems to be about 2 feet wide, its inner wall 2 feet 6 inches thick and its outer wall 3 feet. The outer face of the wall of the broch shows a distinct inward batter.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 19 May 1915.
OS map: Skye xxxvii.
