Mull, Dun An Fheurain

NM31NE 4 3706 1863.

(NM 3706 1863) Fort (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)

Fort, Dun an Fheurain: One of the most impressivelysituated forts on Mull stands 550m S of Ardalanish farmhouse on the summit of an isolated headland overlooking the W shore of Ardalanish Bay. The higher (NE) end of the headland is bounded by sheer cliffs rising to a maximum height of 27.5m, which render the site virtually impregnable except from the SW, where there is a relatively easy approach to the summit over a series of sloping rocky shelves.

The fort measures 65m by 15m within a wall which encloses both the summit-knoll at the NE end and also nearly half of the lower SW portion of the headland. Except on the N, where no traces survive, the wall now appears for the most part as a band of rubble in which both faces are exposed intermittently. On the NE, where best preserved, the outer face is still standing to a height of 2m in ten thin courses. The entrance, on the WSW, is about 1.5m wide. Here the wall is 3.7m thick, decreasing to 2.5m as it runs S to cross the head of a natural gully.

Below the level of the fort wall to the SW there is an outwork consisting of a single wall which borders almost all the remainder of the lower (SW) part of the headland. Traces of it are now visible only on the S and SW, but originally it must have sprung from the fort wall on the W and S to enclose an area measuring about 18.3m by 15.3m.

Where exposed on the S, the outer face is standing to a height of 1.2m in seven courses with a pronounced inward batter. At the entrance, on the SW, where parts of both faces survive, the wall has a thickness of 1.8m, and an unusual feature of the passage is that its S side is defined by a single enormous boulder, measuring 1.6m by 0.9m in height. A short stretch of narrow wall, now ruinous, which lies N of the fort entrance, probably represents a comparatively recent construction built to prevent stock from straying too near the edge of the cliff.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1972.

A fort, as described by RCAHMS (1980).

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 12 June 1972.

The name 'Dun an Fheurain' (NAT) appears on OS map 1:10,000 1975 at NM 3680 1865. However, reference to the ONB (1878) shows that it applies to a feature SW of Torr Grianach and S (not W as it appears at present) of Dunan Dubh. The RCAHMS (1980) therefore correctly apply the name to this fort.

[Undated] information in NMRS.

Name Book 1878.