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Islay, Port Ellen, Borraichill Mor
Dun (Later Prehistoric)
Site Name Islay, Port Ellen, Borraichill Mor
Classification Dun (Later Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 37553
Site Number NR34NE 3
NGR NR 36913 46661
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/37553
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kildalton And Oa
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR34NE 3 3691 4665
See also NR34NE 20.
NR 369 467 Dun/homestead: At the extreme south west end of Borrachill ridge, a detached outcrop crag has a heavy drystone wall barring the scaleable east side. The other three sides are sheer.
I D Shanks 1976.
At NC 3692 4666, on a knoll flanked by cliff on all sides but the east, is a dun measuring overall 22m east-west, by 12m. The only walling remains is at the accessible east end, surviving as a 16m long band of rubble spread from 2m to 2.5m broad; an outer face of abutting stones is visible in the south half, and the entrance, of which no details can be seen is centrally placed.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (JM) 23 March 1979.
Field Visit (May 1980)
NR 369 466. The summit of an elongated rocky ridge, situated about 150m to the W of the fort at Borraichill Mor, and aligned roughly E and W, is divided into two portions by a steep-sided transverse cleft; the W portion is occupied by the remains of a dun. Sheer rock-faces and steep rock-studded slopes provide strong natural protection on all sides except the E, where the summit rises only 3m above the floor of the cleft.
The dun measures 20m by 13m internally and was defended by a single stone wall drawn along the irregular E
margin of the occupied area, overlooking the cleft; elsewhere on the perimeter the natural defences appear to have been considered sufficient. Now in a severely wasted condition, the wall survives, for the most part, as a rock-strewn scarp 1.5m high, in which several stretches of outer facing-stones can still be seen. The best-preserved portion lies opposite the middle of the cleft, where the wall face stands 0.5m high in two courses. Immediately to the N of this point there is a significant dip in the spread of wall-debris which probably indicates the position of the original entrance. The interior, slightly concave in profile, is masked by a dense growth of heather and tussocky grass.
The mass of tumbled debris choking the bottom of the cleft includes a number of large boulders which testify to the
strength of the defences erected on this side by the dun builders. Several blocks of similar size have been rolled
together to form a crude wall across the N end of the cleft; it seems probable that this feature was associated with the small stone-founded enclosures of relatively recent date built against the base of the E portion of the summit on this side.
RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1980.
Measured Survey (1980)
RCAHMS surveyed the dun at Borraichill Mór in 1980 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. 106A).
