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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 649915

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/649915

NC55SE 1 5523 5303.

(NC 5523 5303) Dun Mhaigh (NAT) Broch (NR)

OS 6" map (1961)

The remains of a broch, Dun na Maigh, strongly situated on a prominent rock rising from the ridge. The rock face is precipitous on the W and abrupt on the E, but from the N and S the approaches are easier and have been defended by walls enclosing the level areas adjoining the broch. There is a chasm on the W face of the rock, the upper part of which is built up. The broch itself is not circular, the W side set back several feet from the edge being considerably flattened and appearing to have been reconstructed. It measures about 31ft N-S by 27ft E-W within a wall 16ft thick which stands 8ft in maximum height. The entrance passage in the E is checked and has three or four roofing slabs in situ. There is no sign of a guard chamber. In the NW arc is a mural chamber 8ft long, roofed with flags, and entered beneath a lintel about 3ft long. Immediately to the E is another chamber 5ft long and 3ft wide, built up at the end and filled with stones.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909

Although mainly a tumbled mass of stones, this broch is well-preserved on the S, where both inner and outer wall-faces are definable, the latter being about 2m high. A small guard-chamber is visible on the N side of the entrance, but the other chambers have collapsed. The wall to the S of the broch, is of rubble, 0.3m high, and appears to have formed an annexe or courtyard rather than a defence. There are traces of a similar enclosure to the N.

Visited by OS (JLD) 22 April 1960

Dun Mhaigh, a broch, is generally as described. The entrance passage is double checked with the guard chamber visible between the checks. In the wall core in the NW quarter is visible a flight of eight steps and, at or near ground level, the remains of a mural chamber opening onto the steps. There are fragments of a scarcement ledge, 0.3m wide, on the S side of the broch. The alleged annexes or enclosures are probably the remains of a single defensive wall fronting the N, E and S approaches to the broch, and terminating at both ends on the steep rock face on the W side.

Revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (JM) 11 October 1978

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