Barra, Dun Chlif
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Barra, Dun Chlif
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Dun Clieff; Dunan Ruadh Na Chlif; Dun Chliobh
Canmore ID 9703
Site Number NF60NE 1
NGR NF 6819 0528
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9703
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Barra
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF60NE 1 6819 0528.
(NF 6819 0528) Dun Chlif (NR)
OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)
The remains of this dun (A Young 1958) or broch (RCAHMS 1928), known locally as Dunan Ruadh na Chlif (RCAHMS 1928), are situated on a rocky promontory, surrounded by water at high tides. It comprises a wall varying from about 15 ft thick on the landward side to 5 ft thick to seaward, enclosing an area some 24 ft by 20 ft (described as circular by the RCAHMS)
There are indications of a gallery over the entrance, on the landward side.
The site is surrounded by a shell-midden containing broch-type pottery. The promontory, crossed by the remains of a wall (A Young 1958), is connected to the mainland by the remains of a causeway.
RCAHMS 1928; L Scott 1947; A Young 1958; Information from C F Tebbutt 1959.
Dun Chlif, a galleried dun, is as generally described above. The few facing stones of the circular inner wall surviving among the tumble, to a height of 0.6m, suggest an internal diameter of 7.5m.
The outer wall appears to be oval on plan, measuring 16.0m E to W by 12.0m N to S, and is best preserved along the S edge, where it survives to a height of 1.2m.
The remains of walling mentioned by Young (A Young 1958) appear as a slight scatter of stones and may not be associated with the dun.
Surveyed at 1:10,560.
Visited by OS (R B) 26 May 1965.
G9: On the summit of a small tidal islet is a roughly-built wall of small rocks and boulders enclosing an area 12m by 7m, within which is much tumbled stone. This appears to be a late reduction of an earlier, more impressive monument measuring 20m by 10m, the enclosure wall of which is set further downslope from the summit. Where it survives and is visible this wall is built of selected roughly rectangular stone blocks set in courses. At the S end, the inturned entrance survives four courses high.
Here, and elsewhere, there are traces of midden from which were recovered six sherds of course handmade pottery.
K Branigan 1992d; NMRS MSS 595/7, 595/8.
Iron age sherds from this and a number of other sites were donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) by Miss M Harman.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1980.
Field Visit (14 June 1915)
Dun Chlif, Cliad.
On the western shore of Barra, about 1 mile east-north-east of Cliad, are the scanty remains of what probably was a broch, noted on the O.S. map as Dun Chlif; it is locally known as Dunan Ruadh na Chlif, but one old man called it Sorn Coir Fhinn (‘the fire-place of the kettle of Finn’). It is built on the highest and landward end of a mass of very rugged rocks, which are surrounded by water during high tides. As it stands no more than about 12 feet above high-water mark on one of the wildest shores in Scotland, it must often be shrouded in spray from the Atlantic (Fig. 192). The mound of stones remaining stands only about 3 feet above its rocky site. The northern side had been founded on the sloping side of the rock, with the result that the greater part of it has slipped into the sea, and the same has occurred on the south, but to a less extent. Among the stones which cumber the interior about two thirds of the inner face of the wall can be detected, and the outer face is traceable on the east and west. The internal courtyard seems to have been circular with a diameter of about 26 feet, and the wall measures 12 feet in thickness on the west or seaward side, and 15 feet on the east. At the latter place the entrance, 2 feet 10 inches wide, is clearly defined, three courses of building remaining in position on the outside of its southern side. To the south of the entrance, within the wall, is an oval cell too dilapidated for measurement, and on the southern curve there are indications of a gallery, its inner wall measuring about 3 feet thick.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 14 June 1915.
OS map: Barra lxii.
Publication Account (2007)
NF60 3 DUN CHLIF ('Dunan Ruadh na Chlif')
NF/6819 0528
This probable broch or 'galleried dun' on Barra is situated on a rocky promontory which becomes an islet at high tide. The remains of a causeway cross this gap. The building appears to be the remains of an oval, not circular [2], structure with a central court measuring about 7.32m by 6.10m (24 by 20 ft), the wall being 4.58m (15 ft) thick on the landward side and only 1.53m (5 ft) on the seaward. Another source gives the dimensions of the oval defined by the outer wall as 16.0m east-west and 12.0m north-south [1]. Suggestions of a gallery over the entrance have been reported [1] which, if genuine, would certainly confirm that the structure is a broch. However the enclosed area is rather small. “Broch-type” pottery has been seen in the adjacent shell middens [1, 8].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF 60 NE 1: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 132, no. 448 and fig. 192 (photo): 3. Scott 1947, 4: 4. Young 1956, 291: 5. Armit 1996, 193: 6. Armit 2002, 21: 7. Branigan 2003, 74: 8. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 109 (1977-78), 381 (donations).
E W MacKie 2007
