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Lewis, Sheshader, Dun Dubh

Promontory Fort (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Lewis, Sheshader, Dun Dubh

Classification Promontory Fort (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 4389

Site Number NB53SE 1

NGR NB 5570 3267

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4389

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Western Isles
  • Parish Stornoway
  • Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
  • Former District Western Isles
  • Former County Ross And Cromarty

Archaeology Notes

NB53SE 1 5570 3267.

(NB 5570 3260) Dun Dubh (NAT)

OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

Promontory fort. The narrow neck of land connecting Dun Dubh to the mainland is crossed by a well-built stone wall, 4.5m thick, whose outer facing is visible up to 3 courses (approx 1.0m) high; the inner face is almost covered by silt from the interior of the fort, where the ground slopes steeply down to it. The entrance,1.2m wide and with stone facing visible on each side,is approximately central, 9.5m from the northern end of the wall and 11.5m from the southern end. No ditch is visible, but the ground continues to fall steeply outside the wall.

No fortifications are visible round the rest of the perimeter, nor would any be necessary, as the cliff is precipitous on all sides. The interior of the fort is covered by fine turf, but no hut floors or other artificial features were located.

Visited by OS (A L F R) Assistant Archaeology Officer, 23 April 1964.

Fort surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (H I M) 21 May 1964.

Activities

Field Visit (3 May 2009)

This fort is situated on a promontory, which rises up from the coastal cliffs into two summits separated by a saddle at a narrow precipitous neck. Rather than taking in the whole promontory, the defences lie on the seaward side of this saddle, where they would have been invisible to anyone approaching along its spine. The single wall that cuts across this neck is some 25m in length, and a gap midway along it probably marks the position of the entrance. Now largely reduced to a grass-grown spread of rubble about 3m in thickness, the wall-core still forms a scarp up to 1.7m high on the slope and several outer facing-stones are visible in up to two courses. The peat-covered interior extends to a maximum of 1.5ha before the convex slope descends into the cliff-line.

Visited by RCAHMS (SPH) 3 May 2009

Note (29 January 2015 - 18 May 2016)

This fort occupies a large promontory which expands from a narrow col into a broad hammerhead due S of the southern end of Sheshader township. The defences comprise a single wall set on the rising ground on the seaward side of the col, with its ends resting on the cliff-edges to either side. Some 25m in length, it is largely reduced to a stony scarp up to 1.7m in height, but several outer facing-stones are visible in up to two course along its line. A gap roughly midway along the wall probably marks the position of the entrance. The ground continues to rise behind the wall into a rocky summit, which falls away in convex slopes to the edge of the cliffs. The area enclosed above the cliffs measures about 175m from NE to SW by 100m transversely (1.35ha), though at least one third of this is bare outcrop on the seaward side; elsewhere the interior is covered with grass-grown peat.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2766

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