Field Visit
Date 15 June 1921
Event ID 1104666
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1104666
Dun Totaig, Uiginish.
Dun Totaig occupies the summit of a small rocky ridge running north-west and south-east, about ½ mile west of Uiginish Lodge, and about 300 yards east of Ob Dubh, one of the inner recesses of Loch Dunvegan. On the south-west flank the rock is precipitous, rising about 30 feet in height, and on the north-east side it rises about 15 feet above the slight hollow which intervenes between the ridge and higher ground beyond; the south-eastern end is steep and rocky, and at the north-western end there is a narrow ridge falling away in a gradual slope. The elevation above sea-level is barely 100 feet.
The dun, now a mass of tumbled stone, has been partly excavated by the Countess Latour. It is sub-oval in shape, with the north-western end flattened, and measures externally 89 feet in length from north-west to south-east and about 48 feet in breadth. The thickness of the wall is indeterminate on the north-eastern flank, but is 18 feet at the entrance and seems to vary from 15 to 23 feet round the southern arc, where the outer foundation course is traceable for a few yards. The north-western end has been cleared of debris, and shows this part of the wall to be about 3 feet high and built of large blocks of stone, with the entrance passage near its centre averaging 4 feet 10 inches in width and running straight through without checks.
About 10 feet from the entrance inside there has been a cross wall, 3 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 6 inches thick, only the ends of which remain projecting from the side walls. The interior is full of debris, and in the south-eastern end a curved passage 2 feet 8 inches wide and 14 feet long, with a present height of about 4 feet, seems to be a later penetration of the main wall.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 15 June 1921.
OS map: Skye xxi (unnoted).
