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Field Visit
Date 20 May 1915
Event ID 1104389
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1104389
Dun (Ardtreck), Ardtreck Peninsula.
On the western shore of the peninsula of Ardtreck, about 650 yards south of Ardtreck Point, is a stack of rock rising in a sheer precipice from the water to a height of over 50 feet, while it rises about 25 feet in two rock-faced terraces above the hollow lying between it and the high ground to the east. The flat summit is occupied by the ruins of Dun Ardtreck, the main wall of which on plan forms about two-thirds of a circle, the chord of the missing part being formed by the edge of the precipice, which shows no traces of even a parapet. It measures 44 feet in diameter internally from north-west to southeast, and 35 feet from the wall at the entrance to the edge of the cliff. What remains of the wall is a fine piece of building, showing an inward batter. Towards the east-north-east for a considerable distance it stands 11 feet high on the outside, 3 to 6 feet of which are hidden by fallen stones. At other parts the wall is very much lower. The wall measures 8 feet 6 inches thick on its present summit, and the entrance has been placed in the centre of the curve facing north-east. It is blocked with tumbled stones, but on the outside it measures 3 feet 3inches in width, and the jambs remain intact for a height of about 4 feet above a depth of 4 feet of stones which have accumulated in front. None of the lintels remain in position. On both sides of the entrance a gallery can be traced within the thickness of the wall, and on the northside it measures 3 feet in width with the outer wall 2 feet 6 inches thick and the inner wall 3feet. The part of the summit between the building and the rocky bluff towards the land has been protected by a wall built on the edge of the rock, forming an outer ward of irregular crescentic plan. The wall has nearly disappeared but has been 6 feet thick. Springing from the edge of the cliff on the north it swings outwards for a distance first of 32 feet, then 45 feet, and curves back to meet the cliff on the south end. Towards the east is the outer entrance, 4 feet wide, to form which the wall recurves inwards on both sides. This entrance is reached by a steep narrow ridge.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 20 May 1915.
OS map: Skye xxxiii.
