Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Archaeology Notes

Event ID 657398

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/657398

NG24NW 7.00 24740 49106

NG24NW 7.01 NG 24629 49540 Stables; Saw Mill

NG24NW 7.02 NG 24669 49025 Laundry

NG24NW 7.03 NG 2482 4897 Gardens

NG24NW 7.04 NG 24756 48891 Walled garden and sundial

NG24NW 7.05 NG 24768 49071 Bridge

See also:

NG24NW 13 NG 24700 49616 Dunvegan Estate, The Cottage

NG24NW 42 NG c. 248 490 Dunvegan Estate, Gardener's Cottage

NG24NW 43.00 NG 248 490 Dunvegan Estate, General

NG24NW 43.01 NG 248 496 Dunvegan Estate, Manager's House

Dunvegan Castle occupies the summit of a rock which projects on to the eastern shore of an inlet. On the landward side it is isolated by a ditch, partly natural and partly artifical, about 60ft in width and 18ft in present depth. There seems little doubt that the rock was the site of a dun of some island chief at an early date. The name is said to mean 'Began's Dun'. All traces of any prehistoric structure seems to have been swept away for the medieval works.

In the 13th century, after the annexation of the Western Isles by Alexander III in 1266, the summit of the rock was enclosed with a certain wall with arched entrance, the sea gate, from which steps led up to yhe platform area, the only entrance to the castle till 1748. In the second half of the 14th century, a keep, 48ft by 35ft, was built at the NE angle of the rock. Early in the 16th century, the 'Fairy Tower' was added at the SE corner, and between these two towers extends Roy Mor's work, erected 1623. The SW wing was built between 1684 and 1690. All these buildings have been much altered by the 19th century transformation.

RCAHMS 1928; W D Simpson 1963.

Dunvegan Castle, the ancestral home of the Macleods, is the private residence of Dame Flora Macleod of Macleod. It is described above, and is in excellent condition.

Visited by OS (A S P) 17 May 1961.

People and Organisations

References