Gigha, Dun Chibhich

NR65SW 4 6451 5007

(NR 6451 5007) Dun Chibhich (Fort) (NR)

(NR 6448 5003) Grave (NR)

OS 6" map, (1924)

The name of the fort is traditionally said to derive from Chibhich or Keefie, the King of Lochlin's son, who ran away with the wife of Diarmid, the Fingalian hero. Diarmid pursued them and killed them both and what is said to be their grave is still visible immediately south of the fort, an embanked enclosure in which the outline of the grave can still be seen.

Name Book 1869.

Dun Chibhich. This fort is situated at a height of 45m OD, on a rocky knoll which crowns the NE end of a prominent ridge. The approach from the SW is easy, but on all other sides the steep fall of the ground provides a strong natural protection. The fort measures 36.5m by 24.5m within a wall which is best preserved round the S half of the perimeter. In this sector the lowest courses of the outer face are visible without interruption, while the stony core measures up to 3.7m in thickness and 1.2m in height. Two short stretches of the outer face are also visible on the NE, while on the NW the course of the wall is indicated by the remains of a modern turfdyke which has replaced it. The entrance to the fort is on the SE and is 1.5m in width. It is unusual in that the bottom course of the outer face of the fort wall is carried right across it, forming a step or threshold at the mouth of the passage. A similar feature has been noted at the dun NR65SW 3. Immediately inside the entrance there is a sunken court measuring 13.5m by 7.5m, but much of the rest of the interior is occupied by a large rock outcrop. The ground between the outcrop and the turf dyke has been under cultivation.

Some slight remains of an outer wall, consisting of a short length of outer facing-stones, are visible on the SE flank of the knoll immediately S of a gully through which access is gained to the entrance of the fort.

RCAHMS 1971, visited 1963.

Dun Chibhich is generally as described by RCAHMS except that the two short stretches of the outer face still visible are in the NW (not in the NE as noted by RCAHMS) and the suggested course of the wall indicated by the remains of a modern turf wall is on the NE (not on the NW as noted by RCAHMS). However, such a course involves a steep drop to a lower level and a sharp change of direction from a point just north of the entrance; a more logical course would have been to follow a line of curving outcrop in the north arc, thereby maintaining the same height around the hill summit, and producing internal measurements of about 28.0m N-S by 21.5m E-W. The lower area to the NE, defined by the modern turf wall and cliff, may have been an outer court to the fort.

The embanked enclosure noted in the Ordnance Survey Name Book [ONB] appears to be contemporary with nearby narrow rig, and there is no evidence of the alleged grave. Anderson (1939) states that the grave of a great Pictish warrior named Keefi, Chiefi or Ciofach,(the name varies in tradition) is alleged to lie about 200 yards south of the fort, but again this could not be confirmed by ground inspection.

Surveyed at 1/10,000.

R S G Anderson 1939; Visited by OS (N K B) 2 February 1978.

Condition of site unchanged from May 1963. However, it was difficult to interpret the paragraph which reads as follows: 'while on the NW the course of the wall is indicated by the remains of a modern turf dyke which has replaced it.' The fort at this point drops away steeply and there was no evidence of a turf dyke at this point. In addition, there is no mention of the remains of a rectangular structure which measures 10m by 5m and lies 6m SW of the S rampart of the fort.

F Hood 1994, visited April 1993.

NMRS, MS/805/1.