Publication Account

Date 2007

Event ID 587021

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/587021

NG24 1 DUN COLBOST

NG/2055 4947

Broch in Duirinish, Skye, standing on a sheer-sided, flat-topped, rock knoll from 6.1 -9.2m (20-30 ft) high; it stands on a bleak stretch of moorland but overlooking modern houses and fertile fields below (visited 22/4/63 & 15?/8/85). The sea is not far away, nearly 61m (200 ft) below The structure is badly ruined and full of debris, much of which is grass-covered; stone-robbing had apparently taken place not long before 1921 [2]. During the 1980s excavations took place outside the broch (below).

Description

The exterior wallface is visible and includes some large stone blocks; it has a battered slope. The entrance is not apparent but may be on the west side where there is a radial depression in the rubble; a possible fallen innermost lintel for the passage has been seen among the rubble in the interior [4]. The Commission's plan shows the central court as oval in plan [2] but Swanson thinks it more circular [4, plan].

On the north (or at about 9 o'clock) is a mural cell of which only the rounded west end is apparent: its width is about 1.17m (3 ft 10in). This feature was not as clear in 1985 as it was in 1921 [2] but one possible function for it is a stair-foot guard cell; an entrance to the interior was once apparent here [2]. Immediately clockwise of this (at about 10 o'clock) a short length of upper mural gallery is apparent with one lintel in position over it. There may be a lower gallery connecting with the west end of the cell and running anti-clockwise from it; one of its lintels has been noted [4].

On the east side (at about 1 o'clock) is a partially lintelled doorway in the inner wallface – 0.86m (2 ft 10in) wide (or 0.55m [4]) and 1.68m (5 ft 6in) long – which leads to what is almost certainly a ground level gallery with a width of 0.69m (2 ft 3in). A short length of this can be seen to the left of the door where it runs under some lintels still in position. There are traces of an upper gallery in the south-eastern arc of the wall, above the lower one just described; at about 2 o'clock there seems to be a raised void leading from the gallery to the central court. It is possible that a stair leading to the upper galleries rises to the right of the doorway instead of at 10 o'clock. Presumably there is a scarcement in the inner wallface hidden below the rubble.

In the north-west (from about 7-8 o'clock) there are further traces of a mural gallery visible on the wallhead and 48cm (1 ft 7in) wide: since the wall stands in places up to 2.75m (9 ft) high these would seem also to be part of an upper gallery.

An outer wall runs round the edge of the plateau on the east and south, and across the ridge on the west; its distance from the broch varies from about 3.05m (10 ft) on the south-east to some 8.24m (27 ft) on the north. The part crossing the ridge to the west and south-west – the easiest approach to the site – has a width of 1.83m (6 ft) and a height of 91cm (3 ft) in places. There may be a narrow doorway through this wall on the north-west.

Recent excavations

Three areas outside the broch were explored in 1989-1991 and a summary of the details is available [1, 6]. The explorations were evidently not deep enough to reconstruct the history of the site. It is not easy to understand the purpose of such a limited exploration, unless as a training exercise.

Dimensions

The broch appears to be slightly oval with external diameters of, from east to west, 15.86m (52 ft) and from north to south 17.39m (57 ft): Swanson records an internal diameter of 9.6m [4]. The wall is from 3.35-3.66m (11-12 ft) thick so the average wall proportion, only approximate, is about 42-43%.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NG 24 NW 5 (plan): 2. RCAHMS 1928, 156, no. 506 & fig. 223: 3. Graham 1949: 4. Swanson (ms) 1985, 864-65 & plan: 5. MacSween 1984-85, 42, no. 8 & fig. 8: 6. A MacSween & D Reed in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1989, 35: Ibid. 1990, 28 & Ibid. 1994, 40.