Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 587217
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/587217
NL94 1 DUN BORAIGE MOIRE
NL/9468 4756
This probable ground-galleried broch or oval dun on Tiree stands on a rounded rock knoll on the west coast of the island and within 100m of the shore; it is extremely dilapidated and overgrown with turf (visited 8/62). Despite this the outline of the wall can be traced and the building can be seen to be oval with internal diameters of from 9-12m with a wall which varies in thickness from 4m to 5m on the east and south respectively. The outer face survives for most of the way round, standing up to three courses high, but the inner is mainly obscured by fallen rubble. The entrance is on the east and is about 1m wide. Within the wall on the south and north-east are traces of what may be a mural gallery; it was thought to be such by Beveridge and by the author but the Commission’s investigators interpreted it as an outward-facing revetment inside the wall core [4]. Excavation would be needed to resolve the point for certain but this interpretation is strengthened by the discovery of two such intramural faces on the south-east. There is an outer wall, fragments of which can be seen on the south-west and south-east, but it has been severely robbed.
Some sherds of pottery, including three decorated pieces, were picked up on the site in 1952 and the latter were subsequently described and illustrated [3]. One (no. 1) is a clear Vaul ware vase but – as we now know that this kind of pottery was in use on the island for about a thousand years from at least as early as 500 BC – it is not very helpful for dating.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NL 94 NW 1: 2. Beveridge 1903, 78 ff.: 3. Piggott 1952, 197 and figure: 4. RCAHMS 1980, 106-07, no. 201 and fig. 120.
E W MacKie 2007
