Skye, Dun Borrafiach

Dun Borrafiach, Vaternish.

About 1 5/8 miles north-north-east of Trumpan church, on the western slope of Beinn a Ghobhainn, overlooking the Little Minch with the islands of Harris and North Uist in the distance, at an elevation of over 400 feet above sea level, are the ruins of a broch, Dun Borrafiach. It is built on a slight rocky knowe in a hollow in the hillside, sheltered by quickly rising ground on the north and east, while on the west there is a gentle slope terminating about 600 yards distant on the edge of the cliff, which rises direct from the sea to a height of 200 feet over a length of more than 2 miles. (Fig. 207.)

The wall of the broch remains standing on the outside to a general height of 6 to 10 feet, except on the north-east and at the entrance on the north-west, where it is lower. Some of the blocks on the outside are of considerable size, one stone being noticeable, which measures 3 feet in length and 2 feet 9 inches in height. The wall face shows the usual inward batter. The interior of the building contains a great mass of fallen stones from 4 to 8 feet in depth, which almost obscures the inner wall. The building is circular, the internal diameter measuring 32 feet 9 inches, and the wall is from 10 feet 9 inches to 13 feet 4 inches thick. The entrance is to a great extent obscured with dislodged stones, but at the outside it measures 2 feet 9 inches in width, and has widened towards the interior. On the north-east, at a height of about 13 feet above the outside foundation, a gallery can be detected. Judging from its height it seems to have been part of an upper gallery. It is 3 feet wide with an inner wall 2 feet 8 inches in thickness and an outer 5 feet.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 9 June 1921.

OS map: Skye ix.

Surveyed by plane-table and alidade. Redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1928, fig. 230).

Dun Borrafiach - a broch, as described by the RCAHMS. Around the broch to the south and west there are about ten ruined shielings of single- and double-cell construction. They appear mainly as turf-covered mounds with circular depressions and some loose stone, but a few are small circular stone huts, the foundations only of which survive.

Visited by OS (A S P) 11 May 1961.

NG26SW 2.01 2355 6371.

Dun Borrafiach occupies a rocky outcrop overlooking the shallow basin of the Borrafiach Burn. The broch measures 16.5m in overall diameter with the outer face still standing to a height of 2.7m on the S half in eight courses including many massive blocks; the N half, however, has been rather more denuded. The line of the inner face can still be detected on the N and this indicates a wall thickness of some 3.6m; where it can be measured the inner skin of walling appears to be some 1.7m in thickness. The entrance, situated in the NW quadrant, has been cleared out since the Commission's description of 1921, but the precise arrangement is still unclear on two counts: reconstruction in antiquity and careless clearing out in modern times. The SW side appears to be on the original line and measures some 4m in length; it is constructed of large blocks of stone and rises above the rubble fill to a height of 1.5m with a distinct batter. At a point about 0.8m from the outside there is an upright jamb-stone rising some 1.1m above the rubble. The jamb-stone is 0.5m broad and 0.13m thick. There is no sign of a bar-hole on this side. The NE side appears to have been narrowed in antiquity by the insertion of an additional thickness of walling to the inside of the probable position of the jamb-stone on this side. The outer width of the passage was originally some 0.5m. Part of the main walling is still visible at the centre of the passage where a width of about 1.4m may be suggested; there are also signs of corbelling. The secondary walling has, however, narrowed the passage to some 0.9m at the centre and about 0.55m at the inner end. All the passage measurements have been taken at between 0.6m and 0.9m above the original floor-level. On the NE and E a long stretch of the outer face of the intra-mural gallery is still visible; the gallery is some 0.7m wide and the inner and outer wall thicknesses are about 1.3m and 3.5m respectively.

Visited by RCAHMS (JNGR) July 1990.

NG26 2 DUN BORRAFIACH

NG/2355 6371

This broch in Duirinish, Skye – the second one encountered when going north along the west coast of the Vaternish peninsula – stands above old field systems but directly on the sloping hillside instead of on a rocky knoll (visited 24/4/63 and in 1985). There are no modern settlements nearby but abundant traces of former cultivation are apparent in the form of ruined dykes and stone longhouses .

Description

The broch is well preserved but encumbered with debris inside and out; the outer face of the wall stands from 6-10 ft (1.8-3.05m) high. Some of the blocks in the wall are very large; one measures 3 ft (91cm) in length by 2 ft 9 (83cm) high; most are rectangular blocks neatly fitted together .

The entrance is visible on the north-west, having been partly cleared out, and its left wall rises to the position of the lintels, now displaced. A slab door-check on the right is apparent 0.5m from the outer end [3]. A further side wall is visible on the right above lintel level, set back slightly from the face below, which should be part of a void or chamber over the entrance. Swanson observed that the inside face of the upper gallery meets the upper part of the entrance passage on this side [3, plan]. She recorded two faces on the left side of the passage and considers the lower one to be the remains of a secondary narrowing because it continues into the interior; her plan certainly seems to support this [3].

The sides of the inner face of an upper mural gallery (about 12 ft, or 3.66 m, above the ground on the east side) are visible at about 8.30-9 o'clock and again from 12-2 and 3.30-6 o'clock, confirming that the structure is a hollow-walled broch. A short section of the outer face of this is preserved at about 11.30 o'clock.

Dimensions

The external diameter is about 57 ft (17.4m), the internal one 32 ft 9 in (10.0m): the wall proportion is therefore about 42.5%. Swanson gives the internal diameter as 9.9m from north to south with a wall width of from 3-4m.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NG 26 SW 2.0: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 159, no. 510 and fig. 230: 3. Swanson (ms) 1985, 848-49 and plan: 4. MacSween 1984-85, 43, no. 12, fig. 2 and pl. 8.

E W MacKie 2007