Archaeology Notes

Event ID 695167

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/695167

NR45SE 10 4679 5264

(NR 4679 5264) Dun Thrudernish (NR)

OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)

Dun Thrudernish [NAT]

Fort [NR]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1981.

(East coast). Dun, vitrified fort, Trudernish Point, just under 1 mile [1.6km] of Dun an Rubha Bhuidhe (NR45SE 6), and visible therefrom. The rocky promontory, about 30ft [9.1m] above the water’s edge, is cut off by a strong wall, now a mass of rubble in which several of the stones are partially fused and some form typical vitrified agglomerations. Outside this are two massive walls, double-faced with traces of good masonry in castle style. They are not strictly parallel to the vitrified rampart and may have been built on to it.

In the case of this ‘castle’, the vitrified wall may be older than the typical castle masonry.

(This is one of the five duns that are noted in 3½ miles [5.6km] of coast between the E spur of Beinn Bheigeir and the SE corner of the island).

V G Childe 1935, no. 4.

Shanks (1972) notes an irregular enclosure on the N side of Trudernish Point. It is bounded by the cliff edge on the N, by a 180ft long wall on E, and a 120ft long wall on W curving at S to close with the wall. This wall is 3ft to 6ft thick, bonded with outcrop.

I D Shanks 1972.

'Dun Thrudernish': a vitrified fort on Trudernish Point a coastal promontory. The fort comprises three roughly parallel walls drawn across the neck of the promontory defending a citadel area some 30.0m, NE-SW

by 28.0m on the highest ground. Cliff on the NW and SE and slopes on the NE protect the sea-ward sides. The main wall is a tumbled mass of stone standing, from 2.0 to 3.0m high and spread from 4.0 to 6.0m broad, with a centrally placed entrance. Large masses of vitrifaction are exposed in the core material in three separate places. The Medieval wall, estimated width 2.5 to 3.0m, stands from 1.0 to 2.0m high and exhibits outer facing for much of its course. The entrance opposes the main wall entrance and packed stone between them suggests a causeway. The outermost wall, 1.0m high at best, survives as fragmentary outer facing backed by a rubble spread 1.0 to 2.0m broad; the northerly section of the wall has been incorporated in an early modern drystone wall. No entrance position identified.

No "irregular enclosure" as specified by Shanks (1972) was located.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (JM) 17 March 1979; Information from RCAHMS.