Archaeology Notes

Event ID 675806

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/675806

NM82SW 6 8143 2307.

(NM 8143 2308) Dun Mhic Raonuill (NAT) Fort (NR)

OS 1/10,000 map, (1976)

The remains of this dun stand on an isolated rock stack, about 9 metres in height above the shore NNE of Barrnacarry farmhouse. The sides of the stack are precipitious, but the summit can be reached with some difficulty through a narrow cleft on the SSW. The dun wall which encircles the summit of the stack is now reduced to a low band of rubble 3 metres in average width and it encloses an area measuring 19.8 by 10.7 metres. The entrance is no longer visible, but was probably situated at the head of the cleft on the SSW.

South of the dun, the boulder-strewn foreshore is traversed by two arcs of ruined walling of widely differing character. The more northerly of these is drawn round the base of the stack. It terminates on the east against a large, rocky boss and at its NW end it is overlain by a boundary wall of comparatively recent date. The best preserved portion is that immediately south of the dun where it appears as a low grass-grown bank 3.7 metres thick and up to 1 metre in height. Throughout much of its length, outer facing stones of this wall can be seen protruding through the debris.

The outer work consists of an exceptionally well-preserved dry-stone wall which extends for a distance of 60 metres from an area of broken ground on the SE to a morass in the NW where all traces of the wall are finally lost. This wall is more than 3 metres thick in places and long stretches of both inner and outer faces can still be seen. The entrance faces SW and measures 1.1 metres in width internally and about 1.5 metres externally. It is is at present blocked by a displaced stone from the SE side-wall. Because of its better state of preservation and the low tactical value of the ground it covers, it is probable that the outer wall represents a later phase of occupation than the inner wall, though both formed formidable defensive barriers.

Adjoining the outer wall and to the west of the entrance are the remains of a rectangular enclosure measuring at least 12.2 metres in length and about 6.3 metres in average width. The NW end has been completely destroyed but on the SW and SE sides, the enclosing wall is fairly well preserved and measures about 1.5 metres in average thickness. The entrance, at its SE side, is 1.4 metres wide. This enclosure is probably secondary to the main structure.

An isolated stretch of walling to the NW of the stack is up to 1.2 metres in width, but appears to serve no useful defensive purpose, and may be contemporary with the enclosure.

RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1966.

As described. This is a dun rather than a fort.

Surveyed at 1:10 000 scale.

Visited by OS (R D) 18 November 1969.