Archaeology Notes

Event ID 658374

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/658374

NG33NE 2 3545 3816.

(NG 3545 3816) Dun Diarmaid (NR)

OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Dun Diarmaid, the stones of which have been nearly all removed, crowns a rocky knoll above Loch Beag. It is of small size, oval on plan, measuring internally c. 29' E-W x 25' N-S. The foundation stones on the outside of the W arc remain in position, and the corresponding stones on the inside of the SE curve. The entrance lies on the S, and is quite destroyed, but the wall on the W side of this shows enough building in position to indicate a wall thickness of 11'3". Apparently it has been of less strength at other parts. The summit of the rock is very irregular, for on the W side it stands some 5' higher than the tumbled material in the interior of the dun.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 1915.

Dun Diarmaid is probably a broch. The outer and inner wall faces survive intermittently in the N, W, and S giving an internal diameter N-S of 8.0m with the wall 3.1m thick in the N and 3.5m in the S. In the E, the wall has incorporated outcrop rock and the outer part has completely disappeared though the inner face may be partly in situ under turf-covered debris. The entrance is in the W, but has tumbled and its footings are obscured by debris; here the wall is 3.6m thick. No intra-mural features are visible.

Visited by OS (A A) 5 November 1971.