Skye, Dun Ard An T-sabhail

Dun (Beinn nan Dubh-lochan), Ard an t-Sabhail.

About 2 miles north by west of Talisker House is Beinn nan Dubh-lochan near Ard an t-Sabhail, a rugged peak rising to a height of 600 feet above sea-level and overlooking Loch Bracadale, which lies about ¾ of a mile to the north. The hill rises for the last hundred feet in a steep slope crowned by rocky crags almost unscalable for the greater part. On its southern shoulder is a lower peak separated by a narrow hollow from the higher peak, and on a shelf slightly below the summit of the latter, overlooking the lower peak and rising about 50 feet above the intervening hollow, is a ruined broch (Fig. 278). The wall is a heap of fallen stones from the south round the west to the north, but one short section on the north-east shows a height of 6 feet still standing, and on the inside the face of the wall is traceable along the eastern arc. The best preserved part is on the south-east, where a scarcement 9 inches wide is seen 2 feet above the tumbled stones, the wall showing 2 feet more of building above the scarcement. The broch is nearly circular, measuring from 34 feet 7 inches to 36 ½ feet in diameter internally. The wall is 9 to 12 feet thick, and at the entrance, which lies in the east, it is 10 feet 7 inches thick. The north wall of the entrance can be traced, but the opposite side is somewhat broken and obscured. The passage seems to taper from 4 feet 7 inches in width to 3 feet on the inside and there is no trace of checks. There is a roofless oval cell, a guard chamber, about 7 feet in length and 5 feet 2 inches wide in the thickness of the wall to the south of the entrance passage, from which it has been entered, and probably a similar chamber has existed on the north side. Traces of a narrow gallery2 feet 2 inches wide in the interior of the wall on the south are evident, and on the north-east the inner wall, 4 feet thick, of a gallery can be detected.

A gully on the north-east side of the rock has been blocked up by a stone breastwork immediately under the wall of the broch. The foundations of a wall 6 to 8 feet thick leave the broch wall on the south-west and swing round the rocky south-western edge of a terrace for some 75 feet, whence they return eastwards, with a break for an entrance, for about 35 feet, then die out on the rocky face of the hillside. The roadway runs through this entrance, which lies from 52 to 64 feet from the broch, is 12 feet in length, and varies from 4 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 6 inches in width. From the middle of the south-western wall of this defence, another wall, 5 feet in thickness, has run easterly, then northerly, towards the broch, and forms an enclosure about 31 feet in length by about 24 feet in width.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 16 June 1921.

OS map: Skye xxxiii.

NG33 1 ARD an t' SABHAIL

NG/3180 3333

This probable ground-galleried broch stands in a dominating position on a rocky summit of crags amid rugged moorland and about 180m (600 ft) above the sea and half a mile from it (visited 20/4/63). There is a fine view of Loch Bracadale to the north with the twin peaks of MacLeod's Tables beyond [4, pl. 1]. The site towers high above the adjacent valley in which are modern settlements and farmland. Swanson has a good plan of the broch [3, 896].

Description

Few of the architectural features are now visible; like most Skye brochs this one is built of irregular blocks of igneous rock many of which have collapsed into featureless rubble. The main entrance is on the east side but no door-frame is visible; it is about 1.15m wide at the outer end and 0.9m at the inner [3]. A roofless oval guard cell, measuring about 7 ft (2.13m) long by 5 ft 2 in (1.57m) is on the left side of the passage; the door to this from the entrance is visible. There is another doorway in the right wall of the passage which leads to another guard cell or to the intra-mural gallery [3].

In 1921 there were clear traces of a narrow mural gallery on the wallhead to the left of (clockwise from) the entrance and a short length on the right side as well; the former has since disappeared but the latter is still visible [3]. On the south-east, at about 7 o'clock, was a scarcement of the ledge-type on the inner wallface and 9 in (25cm) wide, but this too has disappeared. The inner face then stood 2 ft (60cm) above the ledge [2]. The gallery on the wallhead behind may be at ground level since there was no sign of any covering lintels. There are traces of a doorway into the wall at about 10 o'clock which were not noted by the Commission; this could well be the stair door. A probably modern revetment can be seen from about 7-9 o'clock and presumably obscures the inner face here [3].

Fragments of an outer defensive wall can be seen on the south and south-east and a gully in the north-east side of the surrounding crags has been blocked by a stone breastwork immediately below the broch [3, plan]. The main outer wall abuts the broch at about 10 o'clock and runs south-east to the crag where it turns north-east along its edge for a short distance. There is an outer entrance here. Traces of enclosures of uncertain date are on the south-east [3, 896, plan].

Dimensions

Internal diameter 34.5-36.51 ft (10.5-11.1m): walls 9-12 ft (2.1-3.6m) thick. Wall proportion approx. 39%.

Sources: NMRS site no. NG 33 SW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1928. 141, no. 418 and fig. 200: 3. Swanson 1985, 893-94 and plan: 4. MacSween 1984-85, 41, no. 1, fig. 1 and pl. 1.

E W MacKie 2007