Islay, Dun Athad

NR 284 407. These remains occupy the summit of a large and impressive coastal promontory which is situated about 2 km SE of the Mull of Oa. The position is one of considerable natural strength and commands an extensive prospect as far as the Antrim coast and the Mull of Kintyre. Rocky cliffs rise sheer on each flank of the promontory to a height of over 105m and the summit-area is an irregular linear platform measuring 90m in maximum extent from NE to SW and varying in width from 6m to 23m. The approach from the landward or NE side is across a narrow neck of land about 2m in minimum width, and thence obliquely by a sloping ascent along the W edge of the main ridge, skirting the remains of a massive forework. The forework, which measures 17.8m in length from E to W and is returned at each end, has a well-defined outer kerb of facing-stones, but is otherwise reduced to a bank of stony debris some 5.8m in maximum ascertainable thickness. The rubble core of this wall contains the remains of one (and possibly a second) small circular hut of intramural construction. It may have served as an annexe to building A which lies behind the forework. This building is of rectangular plan and measures 11m in length from E to W by 3m transversely within low turf-covered walls; the entrance is located in the W end-wall. Building or enclosure B (RCAHMS 1984 plan) is of roughly ovoid plan measuring 5m in maximum length from E to W within low scarped banks; it has an entrance in the W sector and is partly overlaid by rigs. Structures A and B lie within a relatively sheltered and hollowed interior circumscribed by traces of a dyke and upstanding rock-cut walls. The remainder of the summit is a narrow and exposed plateau which contains much evidence of rig-cultivation, and retains portions of turf dykes along the W flank and the SW boundary. A short distance down the rocky sw slope there is a level grassy platform (D) which also incorporates the remains of an outer turf bank. The oval depression at C possibly marks the site of a well or cistern for the supply of fresh water.

The approach track across the adjacent headland is flanked by turf banks, and there are traces of other field-banks and structures on the E side of the headland. On the boulder-strewn foreshore around the base of the promontory there are a number of rock-shelters and caves, some of which are fronted by enclosure-walls of boulder construction. One of the caves contains deposits of manganese ore.

The natural advantages of this site may have invited fortification from prehistoric or Early Historic times, but the existing defences and associated buildings appear to date from an otherwise unrecorded refortification of the 16th or early 17th century. It may have served as one of the beacon-stances used by the supporters of Sir James MacDonald in 1615. A slightly later topographical account refers to the 'great fortress called Dunaynt,' which with 'small expensis . . might be maid ane Invincible strength'. (Geog Coll)

RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1978.

RCAHMS surveyed Dun Athad at 1:1000. The plan drawing was reproduced in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 265B).

One of the most spectacular promontory works in Scotland, Dun Athad is a narrow finger of land, which projects SW from the cliffs of the Oa and drops away almost sheer along both sides to the foreshore 105m below. The defences comprise a single thick wall 17.8m in length commanding the slope that drops into a narrow coll on the landward side; a well defined outer face can be traced, returning at either end, and though the line of the inner face is unknown the rubble core is spread about 5.8m in thickness, extending up to the rear wall of a large rectangular building set roughly E and W across the top of the promontory; in the course of a visit by the HFSG a piece of vitrified stone was identified in the wall core. The entrance was probably between the terminal of the wall and the NW margin of the promontory, where the modern path gains access to the roughly level interior on the top of the promontory. This measures about 90m from NE to SW by between 6m and 23m transversely (0.1ha), and while there are traces of structures at the NE end, it is mostly covered with cultivation rigs.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 23 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC1877