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Islay, Octofad, An Dun
Dun (Later Prehistoric)
Site Name Islay, Octofad, An Dun
Classification Dun (Later Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) 'West Shore Of Loch Indall'; Loch Indaal
Canmore ID 37358
Site Number NR25SW 3
NGR NR 22180 54200
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/37358
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilchoman
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR25SW 3 2217 5419
(NR 2218 5420) An Dun (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
Dun [NR]
(remains of) [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1981.
(West shore of Loch Indall). An Dun, Octafad: a dun consisting of a rock girt by a well-built stone wall with an overall width of about 30ft [9.2m]. It rises sheer from the water's edge for a height of 40ft [12.2m]. Coves in rock clefts on either side: behind, the ground rises steeply to 200ft [61m].
This dun is one of those 'admirably suited to be pirates' strongholds, with coves hidden in chasms of the rock where coracles might shelter.' It is also noteworthy for being one of those that are 'overlooked by high ground immediately in their rear.'
[No outworks noted].
V G Childe 1935, no. 24.
The dun appears to be galleried. An oval enclosure 35ft by 45ft within a 4ft to 6ft stone wall closely adapted on the north and west to the cliff edge, lies between the dun and geodh to the north. It may be a guard-house for the dun.
F Newall 1966
A much wasted dun surviving as a grass-covered amorphous enclosure 11.0m in diameter and 0.5m high. Although there is neither an inner or outer face visible the walling appear to have been about 3.0m wide. Below the dun on the east are the remains of a revetment wall. There is a possible entrance gap in the north-east but no evidence to suggest that the dun was galleried.
Two level areas immediately to the north may have been outworks but there is no walling to be seen. A small level area adjoining the north-east side of the dun bears no evidence of walling but it may once have been on outwork to the dun. This level area agrees approximately in its dimensions to those given by Newall and also lies 'between the dun and the geodh (inlet) to the north'. The only approach to the dun is by way of a narrow natural causeway across a deep gully on the north-west side.
Surveyed at 1:10 000.
Visited by OS (BS), 6 May 1978.
Field Visit (July 1975)
NR 221 541. The rocky boss that forms the summit of an elongated coastal promontory some 400m SSE of Octofad farmhouse is occupied by the denuded remains of a dun and its outworks. Approached across a narrow natural causeway on the NNW, the promontory summit rises to a height of only 4-5m above the level of adjacent ground on the NW and is overlooked by higher ground on the same side. To the SE, however, the promontory falls steeply over rocky ridges to the sea, and elsewhere sheer cliffs 12m high afford strong natural protection.
The dun is an irregular oval on plan, measuring about 18m by 16m over the ruins of a dry stone wall, from which much of the core material has collapsed down the steep seaward slopes. However, a comparatively long stretch of the outer face has survived on the NW, and smaller isolated stretches and a single stone are visible elsewhere; all are set at the
bottom of the grass-covered stony scarp that indicates the course of the wall, some as much as 3m below the level of the summit. The inner line of the wall has been obscured by selective stone-robbing, possibly to build an enclosure of more recent date in the SE half of the interior. The enclosure, which appears as an oval depression, edged at various points with earthfast stones, was entered from the NE, a feature which suggests that on this side, too, lay the entrance of the dun.
The outworks take the form of stone walls of relatively slight construction, now reduced to low bands or scarps of grass-grown stony debris in which several stretches of outer facing-stones can still be seen. One outwork springs from the dun wall on the SW and follows the irregular margin of the cliff before returning to enclose an area of habitable ground immediately outside the dun. The extremely wasted remains of a second wall can be seen on the outer edge of a lower shelf to the s of the first, and a third wall was constructed on the margin of the cliffs to the N of the dun, the gap between its E end and the summit boss probably representing an original entrance. Abutting the inner edge of the outwork immediately NNE of the dun, there are the ruined foundations of a comparatively recent D-shaped enclosure.
RCAHMS 1984, visited July 1975
Measured Survey (1975)
RCAHMS surveyed the dun at An Dun, Octofad, in 1975 at 1:400 using plane-table and self-reducing alidade. The plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced size (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 103B).
