Skye, Diubaig

NG35SW 5 319 538.

NG 320 537 A depopulated township, probably part of Diubaig (NG35SW 4), consisting of 13 ruined houses and a few small enclosures. (Visible on RAF air photographs CPE/Scot/UK/175: 2297-8)

There are considerable areas of lazy-beds in amongst the dwellings and on the hillsides round about the side.

Visited by OS (ASP) 2 May 1961.

Apart from NG35SW 4, there are three other clusters of buildings in Diubaig Glen. Two are only 100m apart, some 800m up the glen from the head of Loch Duibaig, but the third lies 300m up the hill to the N. All are now in a forestry plantation, but are located in clearings adjacent to access roads.

The southernmost of the three clusters (NG 3198 5370), comprises at least six buildings, but fragments of as many as three earlier ones are also visible. Five of the buildings are in a fine state of preservation with walls still standing up to 1.6m in height. One of these is a substantial structure measuring some 15.7m in length by 3.6m in breadth internally; it is of particular interest because, not only has it been built out of an earlier building, but a later outshot with an internal entrance has been butted on to the SW end. Fragments of the earlier building are detectable along its sides, preserved in the thickness of its walls, which are up to 1.7m in thickness. An enclosure was formerly attached to this building, but it has been destroyed by the construction of the adjacent forestry road; another enclosure lies on the N side of the cluster.

The middle cluster (NG 3200 5380) comprises at least five buildings and an enclosure, but there are also traces of what may be an earlier building. Four of the buildings have walls still standing up to 1m in height, but the fifth, a T-plan structure with rounded ends at the N end of the cluster, is only defined by banks from 0.2m to 0.5m high. The possible earlier building is overlain by the southernmost structure of the cluster; the latter is attached to the enclosure and another building has been inserted into the angle between the two.

The northernmost cluster (NG 3189 5408) comprises three buildings with their walls still standing up to 1.2m in height. They range from 9.6m to 12m in length and from 3.4m to 4m in breadth; the southernmost building, however, has been reduced in length at some time and there is a blocked entrance in the inserted end-wall. The other two buildings have attached enclosures.

(WAT90 1424-39)

Visited by RCAHMS (SPH and PJD) 18-19 November 1990.

A township, comprising ten unroofed buildings and one enclosure is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch (Inverness-shire, Isle of Skye 1881, sheet xvi). Eleven unroofed buildings and four enclosures are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10560 map (1969).

Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 17 October 1996.

NG 31929 53838 A walkover survey of the planning area and the immediate environs was undertaken.

A low bank was located on the edge of the planning area. The bank is part of the dispersed settlement of Diubaig. No other features or structures of archaeological significance were recorded.

NG 31983 53741 A walkover survey of the area was undertaken prior to development. A small part of an enclosure is located within the planning area. The enclosure is part of the dispersed settlement of Diubaig. No other features or structures of archaeological significance were recorded.

NG 31989 53890 A walkover survey of the area and the immediate environs was undertaken, prior to development.

A single stone and earthen structure, some 9 x 5m and part of the dispersed settlement of Diubaig, was recorded on the line of the proposed new access route. No other features or structures of archaeological significance were recorded.

Funder: RDS Forestry Ltd

Clare Ellis – Argyll Archaeology

(Source: DES Vol 20)