An Dun, Gairloch

A small narrow promontory with steep sides projects abruptly into the sea from the head land of An Ard, providing splendid natural defences. A narrow rocky path gives access from the shore to the small stone-walled dun which occupies the first part of the promontory. The farther end is cut off by a rocky chasm with the sea flowing through it.

The dun comprises two enclosures. The inner enclosure occupies the highest part of the promontory, making use of the steep slopes either side. On the landward side, which was most vulnerable to attack, there is an outer wall, probably contemporary, providing both an outer line of defence and a second small enclosed area. There is hardly room for more than one hut in either enclosure. The stone walls are largely overgrown with grass, but parts of the wall-faces are visible, particularly the inner face of the inner enclosure and the outer face of the outwork wall on the landward side. The position of the entrance is not known.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).

The defences of the small fortification on a rocky promontory extending N from the headland at the southern end of the bay at Gairloch comprises two elements: a small oval enclosure on the summit of the promontory; and a dug-out gully cutting off the landward approach from the SE. The inner enclosure measures about 17m from N to S by 15m transversely within the grass-grown remains of a wall about 0.6m high, within which vitrifaction has been observed on the N and adjacent to the entrance on the SE. The entrance opens onto a causeway across the gully, the bottom of which has been dug out to form a ditch some 3m wide by up to 2m deep. It is unclear whether the ditch is merely an outwork to the inner enclosure, or whether it is part of an earlier promontory work. Girt with cliffs along its sides and separated from the outer end of the promontory by a deep natural fissure, it is well-suited to defence and an area of about 0.09ha is cut off behind the ditch. Keith Blood of the OS also identified traces of a bank along the cliff-edge on the landward side of the ditch, possibly indicating an outer defence or an outer enclosure as was depicted by William Thomson in 1924 (1924, 135-9, fig 4); Thomson also believed that the outer end of the promontory beyond the natural fissure was enclosed with walls and marks several places where he identified vitrified stones. This part of the promontory extends to about 0.3ha, much of it apparently bare outcrop.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 25 November 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2727