Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Upcoming Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates:
Thursday, 9 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 23 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 30 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
During these times, some functionality such as image purchasing may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Skye, Dun Bornaskitaig
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Building(S) (Post Medieval), Fort (Prehistoric)(Possible)
Site Name Skye, Dun Bornaskitaig
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Building(S) (Post Medieval), Fort (Prehistoric)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Bornesketaig
Canmore ID 11208
Site Number NG37SE 4
NGR NG 3726 7161
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11208
- Council Highland
- Parish Kilmuir
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG37SE 4 3726 7161.
(NG 3726 7161) Dun Bornaskitaig (NR)
OS 6"map, (1966)
Dun Bornaskitaig, a ruinous broch on a flat topped rocky eminence. It survives as a turf covered mound c.1.8m high with about a dozen outer facing stones visible. Around the periphery giving an overall diameter of 18.0m. The centre of the mound is occupied by a late rectangular building which has obliterated all internal features. Two stones on edge 1.1m apart in the W arc may be part of the entrance. There is no trace of the alleged entrance in the N noted by RCAHMS (1928).
Around the broch conforming to the rim of the eminence is a robbed stone wall, oval on plan, varying between 2.4m and 3.2m in width, and enclosing an area measuring 44.0m N-S by 22.0m transversely. The footings of the outer face are visible intermittently and one or two stones of the inner face can be seen in the N and SE. A gap in the SE is probably the entrance. This may be an outwork contemporary with the broch, but it would form a strong defence on its own and could well be the remains of an earlier fort.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (I S S) 15 September 1971.
Field Visit (26 May 1914)
Dun Bornaskitaig.
To the north-west of the township of Bornaskitaig, and about 100 yards from the western side of the promontory terminating in Ru Bornaskitaig, is a flat-topped, rocky eminence rising nearly 100 feet above sea-level and 20 feet above the immediate surroundings, on the summit of which are slight indications of a circular structure of stone measuring about 57 feet in diameter externally. On the north side there are traces of an entrance 3 feet 6 inches in width. Within this building a construction of late date, rectangular on plan, has been erected, obliterating most of the original structure.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 26 May 1914.
OS map: Skye iii (unnoted).
Publication Account (2007)
NG37 1 DUN BORNASKITAIG
NG/3726 7161
Possible broch in Kilmuir, Skye, consisting of a turf-covered mound on a flat-topped rocky knoll; the height above OD is about 30m. The structure itself is badly ruined having evidently been robbed of stone for a recent settlement at the base of the crag. A few facing stones of the outer face are visible, giving an overall diameter of 17.4m [1], or 57 ft [2], or 18.4m [4]. The side of a possible doorway to a mural gallery can be seen on the west [4, plan]. There is no trace of the entrance on the north side noted by the Royal Commission [1].
A late rectangular building sits on top of the mound. An outer stone wall, from 2.4-3.2m wide, runs round the edge of the knoll; it encloses an area measuring 44.0m north-south by 22.0m trans-versely. It cannot be asserted that this wall is contemporary with the broch [4].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NG 37 SE 4: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 176, no. 564: 3. MacSween 1984-85, 45, no. 30 and fig. 30: 4. Swanson (ms) 1985, 817-18 and plan.
E W MacKie 2007
Note (26 January 2015 - 1 November 2016)
This flat-topped hillock, which rises abruptly some 6m above the surrounding ground, is occupied by a heavily ruined broch within a larger enclosure. The broch has been reduced to little more than a circular mound of rubble up to 1.8m high surrounding a rectangular building belonging to a later township, which occupies the greater part of what would have been its interior. The outer enclosure is oval on plan, measuring about 44m from NNW to SSE by 22m transversely (0.07ha) within a wall spread between 2.4m and 3.2m in thickness. The wall follows the margins of the summit and the line of the outer face is intermittently visible along its course; a gap on the ESE may mark the position of the entrance. In addition to the broch and its overlying building at the NNE end, a second township building overlies the wall at the SSE end. While this outer wal is possibly no more than an outwork to the broch, it may equally have served as a free-standing fortification either before the broch was constructed, or indeed after its abandonment.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 01 November 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2756
