Skye, Abhainn Bhaile Mheadhonaich
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Skye, Abhainn Bhaile Mheadhonaich
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Dun Sleadale; Dun Alighlinn
Canmore ID 11114
Site Number NG34SW 2
NGR NG 3098 4260
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11114
- Council Highland
- Parish Bracadale
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG34SW 2 3098 4260.
(NG 3098 4260) Immediately to the E of the road from Dunvegan to Struanmore, overlooking the mouth of the Abhainn Bhaile Mheadhonaich, and occupying a rocky knoll, some 30 - 40ft high, which surmounts the steep rise from the shore, is a very dilapidated broch. It stands about 200ft OD, and some 300 yards E of the shore of the loch. The wall has been reduced to the foundation course outside, and now appears as a ring of stones and earth 4 - 6ft high. The internal diameter measures from 36 - 37ft and the wall from 11ft 6ins to 12ft in thickness.
RCAHMS 1928.
A broch as described by RCAHMS with an entrance 1.2m wide in the NE quadrant, showing the remains of a door check in its S side. Condition poor.
The township formerly clustered about it was known as Dunalighlin in 1824. (NG34SW 5)
Visited by OS (C F W) 7 April 1961.
Field Visit (25 May 1915)
Broch, Abhuinn Bhaile Mheadhonaich.
Immediately to the east of the road from Dunvegan to Struanmore, and overlooking the mouth of the burn Abhuinn Bhaile Mheadhonaich, which falls into the east side of Loch Caroy, about ½ mile from its inner end, and occupying a rocky knoll, some 30 to 40 feet high, which surmounts the steep rise from the shore of the loch, is a very dilapidated broch. It stands about 200 feet above sea-level and some 300yards east of the shore of the loch. The wall has been reduced to the foundation course outside, and inside it is practically covered with stones. It now appears as a ring of stone and earth 4 to 6 feet in height. The internal diameter measures from 36 to 37 feet, and the wall from 11 feet 6 inches to 12 feet in thickness.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 25 May 1915.
OS map: Skye xxviii (unnoted).
Publication Account (2007)
NG34 1 DUN ALIGHLINN ('Abhainn Bhaile Mheadonaich')
NG/3098 4260
A very dilapidated possible broch in Bracadale, Skye, standing on a rocky knoll 9.05-12.2m (30-40 ft) high. The name used here is instead of that created by the Commission (after the nearby stream) and was suggested by Swanson [4]; it seems very appropriate because Dunalighlinn, the abandoned settlement nearby, must surely have taken its own name from the traditional one of the much older fortified site.
The building [4, plan] has been reduced to a ring of stones and earth 1.22-1.83m (4-6 ft) high. Traces of the lowest course of the inner and outer faces of the wall indicate an internal diameter of 10.98-9.46m (36 - 31 ft) and a wall thick-ness of from 3.51 - 3.66m (11.5 - 12 ft) [2]. There are signs of the entrance on the east-north-east with the remains of a door-check in its south side in the form of an upright slab [1]. There are traces of a later, possibly circular structure inside the broch [4, plan].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NG 34 SW 2: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 143, no. 481: 3. MacSween 1984-85, 45, no. 24: 4. Swanson (ms) 1985, 875, plan.
E W MacKie 2007
