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Field Visit
Date May 1977
Event ID 1170186
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1170186
NR 466 540. This dun occupies Rubha Buidhe, the low rocky promontory that forms the N end of Claggain Bay 450m S of Ardtalla. The promontory rises no more than 5.4m above high-water mark, and access is easy from all directions except the SE, where the rock rises relatively steeply. The choice of a position of little natural defensive strength is unusual, especially since there is a convenient rocky hillock only 200m to the SW.
The dun's defences are comparable to those of the two promontory forts (Dun nan Gall and Trudernish Point, RCAHMS 1984, Nos. 156 and 168), situated 1.7 km to the N and 1.5 km to the S respectively, in comprising three walls, of which the innermost incorporates patches of vitrifaction.
The innermost wall (A on RCAHMS 1984 plan) has been severely disturbed, appearing as a heavy band of rubble. Apart from one short stretch of the outer face, no facing-stones are exposed, but the amount of core material, up to 1.4m high, and the scree-like spread of tumbled debris outside it suggest that the wall was between 3m and 4m thick. Small lumps of vitrified stone can be seen in it. The entrance faces NW, and part of the sw side of the passage is visible. Much of the limited area cut off by wall A is now taken up by two large, roughly circular, accumulations of stones, of unknown origin or function, but there can be little doubt that they are not contemporary with the dun.
The middle wall (B on RCAHMS 1984 plan) probably measured 2.4m in average thickness the outer face surviving at best to a height of 0.9m in two courses. The entrance appears to have been at the N end, where there is a 3m gap, now blocked by modern walling.
Wall C, l-3m in average thickness, has been for the most part reduced to the intermittent series of substantial boulders
with which it was faced; the remains now terminate abruptly before reaching the edge of the promontory at each end. The position of the entrance is not clear.
Along the N edge of the promontory, four separate lengths of relatively modern walling extend across gaps in the natural rock.
The extensive beach immediately to the NE offers a good landing-place; a small, stone-lined boat-noost immediately to the SW is of comparatively recent origin.
RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1977.
