Taransay, Clett An Duin
Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Taransay, Clett An Duin
Classification Dun (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Paible
Canmore ID 10531
Site Number NG09NW 3
NGR NG 0358 9961
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10531
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Harris
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG09NW 3 0358 9961.
(NG 0358 9961) Dun (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)
A dilapidated structure slightly oval on plan (about 58ft N-S and 62ft E-W) from which so much of the wall has been removed that it is impossible to estimate its thickness, although its outer face can be traced all round, except towards the SE. The best preserved section (about 4ft high) is towards the W, where the entrance is situated.
Small enclosures of recent date have been built against the outer wall to the N and W, and about 30 ft. from the N wall are slight traces of a stone wall, which may have formed an outer defence on this side. Known as Dun Rhatha or Dun an Oir, (the Golden Dun) there is a tradition that some golden ornaments were found here, hence the name (F W L Thomas 1890).
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914; F W L Thomas 1890
The remains of an oval dun measuring externally 18.5m NW-SE by 16.8m transversely, and generally as described by RCAHMS. The wall thickness cannot be ascertained but there is a suggestion at the entrance that it may have been about 3.5m. An exploratory excavation has revealed that the entrance has been utilised later as part of a passage leading to an apsidal chamber in the centre of the dun.
It is known locally as the Dun, or occassionally as Dun Clach but the source of this latter is Bartholomew's 1/2".
The alleged outer defence is the remains of a recent field wall.
Visited by OS (A A) 7 July 1969.
Field Visit (17 July 1914)
Dun near Paible, Taransay.
About 500 yards north-east of Paible, on the eastern side of the island of Taransay, are the remains of a dun occupying a rocky knoll some 80 yards from the shore and about 50 feet above sea-level. The summit of the knoll rises 10 feet above a hollow on the landward side to the north-west and about 30 feet above the grassy slope to the south-east, and it is approached from the south-west over a gradual incline. So much of the dun has been removed that it is impossible to ascertain the thickness of the wall, but its outer face can be traced all round, except towards the south-east. The best preserved section, towards the west immediately to the south of the entrance, still shows a height of about 4 feet. The building is slightly oval on plan, measuring externally some 58 feet from north to south and 62 feet from east to west. The entrance is on the west, but is broken down on the north side. It seems to have been about 3 feet 3 inches wide on the outside. A long slab lying beside the wall at this part may have been a lintel. The entrance passage, 21 feet in length, leads into an apsidal chamber, the curved end towards the north measuring 13 feet across the chord from east to west and 10 feet 6 inches from north to south; from the opposite side of the chamber a passage 2 feet in breadth extends eastwards for 3 feet, where it turns at a right angle towards the south, and can be traced for a distance of 2 feet 6inches by the lower course of its western wall. The wall of the chamber and the passage to the east are marked by a single course of stones. The distance between the crown of the apse and the outer face of the wall of the fort is 17 feet 6 inches.
A number of small enclosures of recent date have been built against the outer wall of the dun to the north and west, but some 30 feet from the northern wall are slight traces of a stone wall which may have formed an outer defence on this side.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 17 July 1914.
OS map: Harris xii.
