Archaeology Notes
Date - 1970
Event ID 659954
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/659954
NH19SW 3 1423 9135.
(NH 1423 9135) Dun Lagaidh (NAT). Fort & Broch (NR) (rems of)
OS 6"map, (1968)
Dun Lagaidh: A complex on an oval rocky hill comprising a timber-laced fort, now vitrified, overlaid by a dun (not a broch as suggested by Feachem, 1963) which was utilised as a castle in medieval times. Excavations by MacKie in 1967-8 revealed that the fort, formed by a single wall, measured 85 yds in length by between 20 and 30 yards wide, with an additional outer wall defending the E end, where a narrow entrance passage can be seen. A C.14 date of c. 565 BC was obtained for a carbonised branch under the fort wall. The only artifact found in association was a fragment of thin bronze, possibly part of a mirror or razor.
The dun overlies the E side of the fort, and measures c. 58' overall diameter with solid walls 11' - 14' thick. The E entrance, with single guard chamber, is checked for two doors, and on the opposite side of the central court can be seen an entrance leading to an intra-mural stair, now comprising 16 steps. Finds from the central court include a bronze ring pin, an iron two-link bit, several bone bobbins, many short iron nails, and fragments of sheet bronze with rivets, possibly chippings from a patch for a metal vessel.
The site was reoccupied and refortified, probably in the 12th century, when the dun was converted for use as a castle. The entrance was blocked, the wall strengthened and the intra-mural stair re-used as an entrance. Two radial walls were built from the dun to the walls of the vitrified fort, thus forming a bailey. Under rubble from the N radial wall was discovered a hoard of 15 whole and 9 half coins, identified as silver short-cross pennies of the late 12th - early 13th century.
Sources: E W Mackie 1967, 1968, 1969; R W Feachem 1963
Dun Lagaidh: as described and planned by MacKie.
Surveyed at 1:2500
Visited by OS (N K B) 25 September 1970
Surveyed at 1:10560
Visited by OS (N K B) 19 October 1964
