Muck, Caisteal An Duin Bhain

NM47NW 28 42175 78674

Two subrectangular buildings and two huts lie below the N side of Caisteal an Duin Bhain, a fort that occupies a coastal stack at the S end of the promontory on the W side of Port Mor (NM47NW 2). The buildings are probably contemporary with a stone wall up to 2.5m thick that has been built to either side of the stack, cutting across the head of the promontory and effectively enclosing the terrace on which the buildings are situated. For much of its course the wall is ruinous and grass-grown, however occasional outer facing-stones are visible, including two stretches 2.5m long and up to 1m high in three or four courses. One of the two huts has been built against the outer face of this wall (NM 42173 78681; Muck02 116). Another more tumbled stretch of wall extends ENE from the SE corner of the stack for a distance of about 12m.

The two buildings and the one remaining hut lie between the base of the stack and the wall, the larger with two compartments and measuring 4.7m from N to S by 3.1m transversely within a faced rubble wall 1.1m in thickness and 0.7m in height. It has rounded corners and an entrance in its W side; a pen has been inserted into the N end of the interior, where there may also be an outshot. The second building lies immediately to the W and measures 3.6m from E to W by 2.8m within a faced rubble wall 0.9m in thickness and up to 0.7m in height. It too has rounded corners, and has an entrance, now blocked, in its N side. The hut lies to the E of the buildings and measures 2.6m by 1.6m within a drystone rubble wall.

(Muck02, 114-17)

Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SDB) 18 June 2002

RCAHMS surveyed the fort, buildings and huts at Caisteal an Duin Bhain, Muck between 18-19 June 2002 with plane table and self-reducing alidade at a scale of 1:500. The plan was later used as the basis for an illustration published in 2016 at a scale of 1:1000 (Hunter, fig. 4.11).