Skye, Dun Grianan, Tote
Fort (Prehistoric)
Site Name Skye, Dun Grianan, Tote
Classification Fort (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Dun Creanan
Canmore ID 11516
Site Number NG55NW 1
NGR NG 5222 5982
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11516
- Council Highland
- Parish Snizort
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG55NW 1 5222 5982.
(NG 5222 5983) Dun Grianan (NR)
OS 1"map, (1947)
Dun Creanan (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)
Dun Creanan: On a flat-topped hillock at the edge of a cliff 400' high, a stone wall was built on its W or landward side. The wall is very dilapidated and only an occasional facing stone appears through the grass. The dun measures some 90' N-S by 26', but apparently much of the cliff has been eroded away. The entrance, towards the S, is too dilapidated for measurement.
(RCAHMS 1928).
Dun Grianan: A fort, as described above, except that there is evidence of a further defence to the W consisting of a rough stone wall along the edge of a terrace upon which are two circular stone huts. They measure 5.0m in diameter with walling of rubble, and are set slightly into the slope.
Visited by OS (A S P) 27 April 1961.
The remains of Dun Grianan on a coastal knoll, a position very similar to that occupied by the dun at Tom na h' Uraich (NG47SE 1).
Probably a small fort with the E side fallen away. All that survives is the W wall with the slightly curved outer face visible intermittently for c. 31.0m to a maximum height of three courses, and an occasional stone of the inner face giving a wall thickness of 2.7m near the S end and 3.2m at the entrance towards the centre, which is 1.6m wide and flanked on each side by set stones.
The outwork, about 9.0m outside the fort in the W, is mutilated but shows an intermittent outer wall face to a height of two courses.
There is not enough evidence to classify with certainty the sub-circular platforms noted by previous OS surveyor as hut circles. They may be natural or due to quarrying.
Visited by OS (A A) 4 November 1971.
Field Visit (31 August 1915)
Dun Creanan, Inver Tote.
About 700 yards south of Inver Tote, which lies at the mouth of the Lealt River, on the edge of the cliff on the sea-shore, some 400 feet high, is a prominent, flat-topped hillock rising some 30 feet above the hollow which intervenes between it and the higher ground to the east. The summit is occupied by Dun Creanan, which has been defended by a stone wall built along its western or landward edge. The wall is much dilapidated, and only an occasional stone on its outer face appears through the grass with which it is overgrown. The dun measures some 90feet in length from north to south and only some26 feet at most from the exterior of the wall on the west flank to the edge of the cliff on the east. Apparently a considerable part of the cliff has fallen since the dun was built. The entrance, which is placed towards the southern end of the landward side, is too dilapidated for measurement.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 31 August 1915.
OS map: Skye xii.
Note (20 January 2015 - 30 May 2016)
This small promontory work is situated on the coastal escarpment below Lower Tote. The promontory rises into a low hillock which falls away some 60m to the sea on the E and is separated from the higher ground to the W by a saddle. Access from the W is barred by two walls set about 9m apart, the inner of which is drawn in a shallow arc 31m in length and varies in thickness from 2.7m near its S end to 3.2m adjacent to an entrance 1.6m wide midway along its length on the W. Though only occasional inner facing-stones are visible, the line of the outer face can be traced intermittently, in places still standing three course high; there are also intermittent traces of up to two courses of the outer face along the outer wall. What remains of the featureless interior measures about 27m from N to S but has been reduced by erosion along the cliff-edge to no more than 8m transversely (0.03). The hut-circle to the rear of the outer rampart noted by an OS surveyor in 1961 were dismissed as either natural or shallow quarries by Alan Ayre of the OS in 1971.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 30 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2720
