Archaeology Notes

Event ID 809677

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/809677

NR45SE 6 4661 5407

(NR 4661 5407) Dun an Rudha Bhuidhe (NR)

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

Dun an Rubha Buidhe [NR]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1981.

Manuscript annotation on RCAHMS working map indicates 'Slight trace of ?rectangular building within, but no extensive later occupation. much tumble'.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB 1878) notes the remains of a small circular feature, in the NE corner.

Name Book 1878.

(East coast). Dun at Rudha Bhuidhe (North of Claggain Bay, 1.1 mile [1.7km] S of Dun nan Gall [NR45NE 1], but not visible therefrom. A triangular promontory, rising 10ft [3m] from the water and about 45ft [13.7m] long, with a cove on the S side and a sandy bay to [the] N, cut off by a double stone wall, quite unmeasurable. Behind, the ground rises steeply to the 50ft [15.3m] contour.

This dun is one of those 'admirably suited to be pirates' strongholds, with coves hidden in chasms of the rock where coracles might shelter.' It is also noteworthy for being one of those that are 'overlooked by high ground immediately in their rear.'

(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. 3.

'Dun an Rudha Bhuidhe': A dun on Rudha Buidhe a coastal promontory. It comprises three walls drawn across the neck of the promontory defending a citadel area some 18.0m E-W, by 16.0m on the highest ground. The seaward sides on the north and east offer easy access but there is no trace of walling;

the south is protected by low cliff on the high water line. The main wall, on the height of the promontory, is a tumbled mass of stone up to 1.4m high. No facing stones are exposed, but the true wall width would have been between 3.0m and 4.0m. The entrance position is probably in the north-west. There is some burnt stone in the wall core towards the north. The middle wall, an estimated 2.5m broad, stands to 0.9m maximum height and has an outer face traceable for about 15.0m. There is no sign of an entrance in this wall and passage was most likely round its north end and through a natural gap in the rocks now sealed by an early modern wall. The outermost wall is reduced to a band of rubble core and intermittent outer-facing boulders; a central gap, 5.0m broad may be an entrance. In the enceinte is an appreciable amount of bare stone, a concentration of which, in the south half may have been a navigation cairn.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (JM) 15 March 1979.