Archaeology Notes

Event ID 673588

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/673588

NM47SW 1 4485 7038.

(NM 4485 7038) Fort (NR)

OS 1:1000 map (1974)

Fort, Rubha an Duin Bhain: Situated about 700 m NNE of Sanna village on the rocky headland known as Rubha an Duin Bhain, there are the remains of a promontory fort. The approach from the S, or landward, side is across uneven rocky ground, and the flanks are strongly protected by sheer precipices 16 m in average height.

A heavy stone wall has been drawn across the base of the promontory, cutting off a roughly trapezoidal area measuring some 65 m from N to S by 40 m transversely. The wall is in a badly ruined condition, surviving for the most part as a bank of stony debris 3.7 m in average thickness and up to 1 m in height; two short stretches and several isolated stones of the outer face are still visible, as shown on the plan, but no inner facing-stones can be seen. The position of the entrance is indicated by a narrow gap in the wall-debris, opposite a natural cleft in the apron of rocky ground lying immediately S of the fort.

Access to the entrance was restricted by a short length of wall, now reduced to a mere scatter of core material, which was constructed between the W side of the cleft and the precipitous W flank of the promontory. Much of the interior is occupied by bare rock, but immediately to the N of the main wall there are two grassy shelves, upon which stone or timber houses could have been built, although no remains are visible.

D N Marshall 1967; RCAHMS 1980, visited 1972.

This fort was in a similar condition to that described by the RCAHMS when seen in 1970. South of the fort is an area of cultivation of 18th - 19th century period which is bounded on the landward side by a wall joining separate stretches of rock outcrop to form a barrier. Built against the base of a rocky cliff within the walled area, is a ruined shieling measuring about 3 m by 2 m.

Fort surveyed at 1:10,000; enlargement at 1:1250.

Visited by OS (NKB) 8 June 1970