Skye, Dun Gearymore

Dun Gearymore, Vaternish.

Dun Gearymore is a broch in an extremely dilapidated condition, but though the mound formed by its remains looks insignificant, it still preserves some of the features of this class of defence much better than many which show a greater height of building. It is situated on the summit of a hillock on the western slope of Beinn Buidhe, at an elevation of 400 feet above sea-level, about 1 mile north by east of Dun Borrafiach (NG26SW 2.01), and some 500 yards from the edge of the cliffs on the western shore of Vaternish peninsula. The broch is circular and measures about 35 feet 3 inches in diameter internally, its wall being about II feet thick. The outer face of the wall is traceable for the greater part of the circumference, but is reduced to only one or two courses of building, except towards the north-west, where it stands 3 feet in height. The interior is filled to a depth of about 4 feet with stones almost entirely obscuring the inner face of the wall. The entrance cannot be detected. On the north-western arc a break in the lintels gives access to a gallery in the interiorof the wall on the ground level, which extends north and east in perfect condition for a distance of about 29 feet. It is very narrow, seldom exceeding 1 foot 6 inches in width, and it is about 5 feet in height. Some 20 feet 6 inches from the present opening on the level of the floor is a well built opening 1 foot 6 inches square leading through the wall into the interior of the broch, apparently an entrance to the gallery. Adjoining the inner and eastern end of this gallery, in the north-eastern arc of the wall, are two conjoined oval chambers or cells considerably dilapidated ; the western portion is the worse preserved, and though its length cannot be ascertained, it measures 3 feet4 inches in width, while the eastern cell seems to be about 8 feet in length and 4 feet 6 inches in breadth. Traces of a gallery are noticeable round the southern side of the dun, and possibly part of it is intact as at least one roofing lintel remains in position. This gallery is also narrow ; it measures about 1 foot 6 inches in width, and its outer and inner walls 5 feet 3 inches and 4 feet 6 inches in thickness respectively. There are numerous ruined houses and stone dykes in the vicinity.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 21 May 1915.

OS map: Skye v.

Dun Gearymore, a broch, as described and planned. An outwork around the broch consists of a stone wall which has been almost destroyed in the NE by later buildings. Elsewhere the outer face can be traced intermittently and although no inner face is evident, the extent of wall core visible suggests a thickness of c. 2.6m.

To the N of the broch are four denuded circular stone-walled huts (A-D), each showing an intermittent inner face of stones on edge, but with no definite outer face evident although the spread of debris suggests a wall thickness in each case of about 1.5m. No entrances are evident. 'A' is 6.5m in internal diameter; 'B' is 8.0m, and'C' is 6.5m. The N arc of hut 'C' overlies the outwork. 'D' is mutilated and obscured by deep heather but appears to measure c. 6.0m internal diameter.

Visited by OS (A S P) 11 May 1961 and (I S S) 18 October 1971.

NG26SW 1.11 2367 6490

See also NG26SW 1.07.

Situated on the S end of the summit of hill; the broch has been severely robbed, presumably in order to provide stone for the many later buildings from several periods nearby. The rocky knoll on which the broch sits has been additionally protected by a wall, intermittent traces of which are still visible, and also by the deepening of the natural gully on the SE side of the broch, which presumably also provided a convenient quarry for building stone. The outer wall runs along the top of the cliff edge on the S side and is clearly visible, where it fills in a crack in the rock. On the W and N, it appears to be some 2.3m thick and on the SE it is visible along the side of the gully. The course of this outer work is, however, not clear on the NE side.

The broch measures some 10.2m in diameter within a wall about 3.4m in thickness; the line of the outer face may be traced throughout its circuit. On the S only the lowest course of the outer face survives, but the rubble core still stands to a height of 2.5m. The outer band

of walling has been heavily robbed, but the inner portion stands to a height of at least 2.5m. The inner face is visible intermittently above the rubble that chokes the interior. A distinct scarcement ledge some 0.4m broad can be seen at one point on the E. The entrance is in the SW quadrant and has been cleared out since the Commission's visit in 1915; it is now too choked with debris for further description. Set within the thickness of the wall on the NNE there is a pair of conjoined cells with a single entrance-passage from the interior of the broch; the W cell measures 2.2m by 1.2m with the walling rising to a height of 0.9m. The E cell is less well preserved and measures 1.5m by 1m internally with the corbelled walling standing to a height of 0.3m above the rubble that fills the interior. On the W side, robbing has revealed the end of a passage in the thickness of the wall that leads to a blocked creep, opening into the interior of the broch at its far end.

(WAT90 302).

Visited by RCAHMS (JNGR), 28 September 1990.

NG26 1 DUN GEARYMORE

NG/2368 6490

This probable ground-galleried broch in Duirinish, Skye, is the most northerly of the three brochs on the Vaternish peninsula and stands on a rocky knoll in an uninhabited tract of country; nevertheless there are many signs of former cultivation, including several small structures, and 'lazy beds', close to the broch [3, plan] (visited 24/4/63 and 15/8/85). There are traces of a defensive ditch to the east of the broch.

Description

As is often the case with dilapidated brochs the outer wallface is now quite low – being reduced to one course of masonry above the rubble in places – whereas the inner face is higher, though mostly hidden under rubble. Both faces are built neatly of squarish blocks of metamorphic rock. A long stretch of ground-level intra-mural gallery, completely lintelled over and intact, is accessible on the north-west arc [3, plan]; it runs for 8.1m (29 ft) – from about 7-10.30 o'clock if the entrance is just south of west – and is rarely more than 45cm (18in) wide and 1.5m (5 ft) in height now. A possible doorway to this mural gallery is visible, 45cm (18in) square.

At the east end of the roofed section, at about 10.30 o'clock, there is the curved end of an apparently elongated mural cell which was described as two adjacent cells which might be opposed guard cells on either side of an invisible entrance [2]. The position of the entrance seems to the author more likely to be on the opposite side of the broch, just south of west, and the cell mentioned perhaps to be the stair-foot guard cell. There are traces of the sides of the gallery throughout other parts of the wall, particularly from about 12-2.30 o'clock.

The dilapidated state of much of the outer half of the broch wall is probably to be explained by the ruins of recent buildings and stone dykes a few yards away on the north-east side [3, plan].

Dimensions

The internal diameter is about 35 ft 3 in (10.75m) and the wall is about 11 ft thick (3.36m). The external diameter would thus be about 57 ft (17.4m) and the wall proportion about 38%.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NG 26 SW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 159-60, no. 511: 3. Swanson (ms) 1985, 845-46 and plan: 4. MacSween 1984-85, 43, no. 13 and fig. 13: 5. Ritchie and Harman 1996, 29.

E W MacKie 2007

The broch known as Dun Gearymore, which occupies a hillock edged with low cliffs, is enclosed by a substantial outer wall up to 2.3m in thickness, forming a roughly oval enclosure measuring internally about 37m from ESE to WNW by 25m transversely (0.07ha); the wall follows the cliff-edge, but disappears on the NE, but the gully on the E also seems to have been deepened, partly perhaps as a quarry for building stone, but also to provide additional protection on this flank. The position of the entrance is not known, though that of the broch, which stands in the centre of the enclosure, lies on the SW.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2750