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Pabbay, Dunan Ruadh
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Pabbay, Dunan Ruadh
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 21383
Site Number NL68NW 1
NGR NL 6128 8760
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/21383
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Barra
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
Dunan Ruadh (Red Fort), 1st millennium bc Remains of an Iron Age galleried dun or broch on a low promontory just north of the long finger of Rosinish. Recent excavation has revealed later internal walls, with evidence inside of a Pictish cellular structure dating from sometime round the 6th-7th century ad.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NL68NW 1 6128 8760.
(NL 61288760) Dunan Ruadh (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)
The remains of Dunan Ruadh, a broch or galleried dun.
"On the edge of the rocky bluff facing the land are the ruins of a curved wall, in the heart of which there has been a narrow gallery. Only a small portion of the south-western arc of the building remains, the other parts having been completely removed. The wall has been about 13 feet 6 ins. thick. and while one or two courses remain in position on the outer face, the mound of stone stands about 7 feet in height. A small part of the inner wall of a gallery is traceable for a short distance".
RCAHMS 1928.
Dunan Ruadh is as described above except that the width of the wall is about 4.6m. Although there are no traces of walling other than at the landward end, it is unlikely that this feature was a broch: it is probably a galleried promontory dun.
Surveyed at 1:10,560.
Visited by (N K B) 21 May 1965.
NL 612 876 Rescue excavation of the last fragment of the broch on the island of Pabbay showed that its circuit wall was comprised of four separate concentric rings of walling, which in one place still stood ten courses high. An unexpected dip in the bedrock on which the broch is built preserved 1m of occupation deposits, from which bone, shell and pottery was recovered, together with fireplaces and complete sheep burials.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland.
P Foster 1996
Field survey has now been completed for all the main southern islands. Each monument located was described both structurally and topographically, drawn as a field sketch and, if considered worthy, photographed.
NL 6128 8764 Dun Ruadh (red dun) (PY10). A broch-type structure (NMRS NL68NW 1) which survives as only a remnant of the southern arc of its main wall with a small undisturbed area of deposits within the arc. Although most of the structure and its deposits have been swept away, the surviving remnants show that the site was occupied when the walls had collapsed down to c 1m in height. In midden refuse dumped on top of the wall, spilling down onto the collapsed corbelled roof of one of the wall chambers, was a bronze Pictish fist pin datable to around the 6th-7th century AD, which is thought at present to give an indication of the final phase of occupation. The excavation of the surviving deposits prior to their eventual destruction by coastal erosion, the clearing of fallen masonry from the face of the surviving wall, and the stone by stone recording of the structure in both elevation and plan was completed in 1998.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, University of Sheffield, Institute of Archaeology, Prague.
P Foster 1998
Field Visit (11 June 1915)
Broch or Galleried Dun, Dunan Ruadh, Pabbay.
On the eastern shore of Pabbay, on the north side of the isthmus connecting the peninsula of Rosinish with the island, is a rocky peninsula rising from 10 to 15 feet above high-water mark, on which are situated the fragments of a fort, Dunan Ruadh. On the edge of the rocky bluff facing the land are the ruins of a curved wall, in the heart of which there has been a narrow gallery. Only a small portion of the south-western arc of the building remains, the other parts having been completely removed. The wall has been about 13 feet 6 inches thick, and while one or two courses remain in position on the outer face, the mound of stone stands about 7 feet in height. A small part of the inner wall of a gallery is traceable for a short distance.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 11 June 1915.
OS map: Barra lxix.
Publication Account (2007)
NL68 1 DUNAN RUADH 2
NL/6128 8760
This probable broch, or promontory semi-broch or galleried dùn, on Pabbay stands on the eastern shore of the island, on a rocky peninsula rising 3.05 - 4.58m (10 - 15 ft) above high-water mark. The ruins of a curved wall, in which were traces of a narrow gallery, were seen in 1915 on the landward side but there were no traces of a complete circuit. The wall has been about 4.6m (15 ft 1 in) thick [1]. The name (pron. 'Doonan Roy') means 'the red fort'.
Recently the site has been investigated systematically [3, 4]. Rescue excavation of the last fragment of a broch – most of the wall of which has been eroded by the sea – showed that its circuit wall was made up of (sic) four separate rings of walling, and in one place stood ten courses high. Midden deposits 1m deep were found, containing a fireplace together with bones, shells and pottery. There was also midden on the wallhead, which had run down into a collapsed mural cell, showing that the building had been in use when its wall was reduced to 1m. Among this late material was a bronze Pictish pin of the 6th/7th century.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NL 68 NW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 131, no. 447: 3. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1996, 103-04: 4. Ibid., 1998, 98: 5. Branigan and Foster 2002, 84, 85, 98 and 101.
E W MacKie 2007
