Tiree, Dun Boraige Bige

NL94NW 3 9494 4757.

(NL 9494 4757) Dun Boraige Beag (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10,000map, (1976)

Dun Boraige Bige (NR)

OS 6"map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)

Dun, Dun Boraige Bige: The remains of this dun and its out-work occupy the N extremity of a rocky coastal promontory near the W end of Balevullin Bay. Although the promontory is cut off from the mainland at high spring tides, the position is not one of great natural strength, for the summit of the rocky boss occupied by the dun stands no more than 3 m above high-water mark, and the approach from the landward side is across comparatively level ground.

Roughly circular on plan, the dun measures about 9.8 m in diameter within a boulder faced, rubble-cored wall 3.8 m in average thickness. On the SE quadrant, where it is best preserved, the wall survives as a thick band of debris in which a few inner facing-stones and several stretches of the outer face can still be seen; some of the blocks incorporated in the latter are of considerable size, the largest measuring 1.3m by 0.6m by 0.5m. Elsewhere on the perimeter, although further stones of both faces have survived in position, the wall has been reduced to a low grass-grown stony bank. The entrance doubtless lay some- where on the S arc, but its exact position is no longer apparent, nor are there any indications of the 'double walls' - probably an internal gallery or similar intra-mural features - which Beveridge (E Beveridge 1903) saw in the E half of the perimeter. The interior of the dun contains no traces of dwellings.

At a distance of about 15 m S of the dun a stone wall was drawn across the neck of the promontory. The surviving remains consist of two isolated spreads of stony debris, in which a single stone and a short stretch of the outer face are still visible. The entrance was presumably situated near the E end of the wall.

Beveridge (E Beveridge 1903) found very little pottery, a few bones and one or two hammer-stones. He also notes traces of an artificial causeway between the shore and the dun. A small well, evidently that of the dun, lies immediately above the shore. A number of kelp-kilns lie 'between the main fort and its outer entrance' (E Beveridge 1903)

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1974; E Beveridge 1903.

The remains of this dun and its outwork were in a similar condition to that described by the RCAHMS (RCAHMS 1980) when seen in 1972. The well was overgrown, and there was no evidence of the causeway noted by Beveridge. (E Beveridge 1903)

Revised at 1:10560.

Visited by OS (J P) 21 June 1972.