Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 587045
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/587045
NG25 2 DUN HALLIN
NG/2566 5927
This unexcavated broch in Duirinish, Skye, stands about 137m (450 ft) above the sea and on .the south-east end of a flat-topped, steep-sided rock knoll overlooking a fertile valley and the sea (visited 24/4/63 and 15/8/85).
Description
The broch wall is well preserved, up to 3.81m (12.5 ft) high on the north and west, and the outer face has a marked batter; both faces are built of cubical stone blocks and the interior is full of debris. The entrance is on the south-east but is either too dilapidated or too concealed under rubble for measuring; there seems to be one lintel near the inner end, which – if in situ – might suggest that it could be intact here and standing up to 1.8m high under the rubble.
On each side of the passage is an oval mural cell neither of the doors of which are visible; they seem likely to be a pair of guard cells [3, plan]. The northern, right hand cell measures 2.85m (9.5 ft) long by 1.35m (4.5 ft) wide and has been cleared out to a depth of over 1m at the end furthest from the passage. The lintel of what seems to be a doorway to the interior has been seen [3]. The south cell was measured as 2.1m (9 ft) long in 1921 but is not easily seen now.
The interior of the broch is full of rubble, much of it grassed over; the inner wallface now stands one or two courses above the rubble, less than the 1.2m (4 ft) mentioned in 1921 [2]. A mural gallery is visible on the south-west arc and the Commission's plan shows a door leading to it, though the text does not mention it. In fact at least one lintel remains in position over this door, at the level of the surrounding rubble, and a scarcement of the ledge-type can be seen at its inner end, mostly grassed over.
Moreover, though the sides of the gallery leading clockwise from this door seen in 1921 [2] are not now apparent, the outer ends of six steps of the intra-mural stairway were found just exposed; the outer half of the wall has fallen away from them. The highest steps are 3-3.6m (10-12 ft) above the external turf, and are rising above the scarcement; there is therefore litt1e doubt that the upper intra-mural gallery is partly preserved under the rubble and that the structure is a hollow-walled broch. This seems to be confirmed by traces of an upper intra-mural gallery seen at about 4 o'clock [3, plan].
An outer stone wall runs round the edge of the knoll, which is about 6.1m (20 ft) high at the south; it is up to 25.9m (85 ft) from the broch on the north-west but only 2.44m (8 ft) on the south-east. The enclosed ground is a flat, grassy area.
Dimensions
The internal diameter is given as 36 ft (10.98m) [2] but this is above the scarcement; the actual measurement across the central court is likely to be about 10.52m (34.5 ft) ; similarly in 1921 the wall was measured as from 9 ft 9 in to 11 ft) (2.95-3.36m) but these measurements must also have been taken above the scarcement. It is also not clear whether the batter of the outer face was allowed for. The external diameter should be about 17.39m (57 ft) and the wall proportion perhaps about 39.5%.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NG 25 NE 1.01: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 158-89, no. 509 and figs. 206 and 226: 3. Swanson (ms) 1985, 851-52 with plan: 4. MacSween 1984-85, 42-3, no. 11 and fig. 11.
E W MacKie 2007
