Skye, Dun Santavaig

Dun Santavaig, Am Bagh-dhuin, Kingsburgh

To the south of the mouth of the River Hinnisdal, in the angle between the river and Loch Snizort Beag, is a flat-topped ridge which from a low elevation at the southern end gradually attains a height of about 100 feet towards its northern extremity. The eastern or mainland side of the ridge rises steeply from a hollow, and the western flank and northern extremity being precipitous the position is one of unusual strength. The dun has been defended on the south and south-east, the only assailable part, by a stone wall the remains of which show, in places, three or four courses of building in position on its outer face. From the edge of the cliff on the south-west this wall is carried across the ridge for 30 yards and thence northwards along the eastern flank for some 60 yards, where the rising height of the ridge makes further defence unnecessary. The outer facing foundation stones of an outer defence, running eastwards from the edge of the cliff at the south-west, are traceable across the ridge 18 feet distant from the outer face of the main wall at the entrance passage 9½ feet wide at the southern end of the enclosed area. The lower courses of the eastern side of this entrance passage through the inner wall are still in position, showing that the wall was about 8½ feet thick at this part. The area enclosed is of large extent with a breadth of 183 feet over all from the northern extremity of the walling on the east to the edge of the precipice on the west, and it is approximately 350 feet in length.

Abutting on the inside of the wall on the eastern flank are two hut circles measuring 12 feet in diameter over all, and some distance to the north is an oval hollow measuring 18 feet from north to south and 9 feet in breadth, which seems to have been walled. As the bottom is damp and contains a vigorous growth of iris it may have been a reservoir to contain water.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 25 March 1926.

OS map: Skye x (unnoted).

This fort occupies a long ridge above the shore, which rises gently from SE to NW but is girt with cliffs around its northern end and along its W flank. Thus protected, a wall has been drawn across the spine of the ridge on the SE to return along the steep NE margin to meet the cliffs at the N end. In essence, it is a promontory fort, though the OS observed in 1961 that there were traces of what may be fallen rubble at the northern end and that the wall may have extended some way along the cliff-edge on the SW. The wall itself is spread about 4m in thickness and in places three or four courses of the outer face were visible in 1926 (RCAHMS 1928, 200-1, no.625); at the entrance on the SE it measures 2.6m in thickness. About 5m outside it an outer wall can also be seen extending across the ridge from the cliff-edge on the SW. The interior measures about 160m from NW to SE by 55m transversely (0.7ha), and though the RCAHMS investigators noted two 'hut-circles' abutting the wall on the E, the OS surveyors were less convinced of the antiquity of these rather ill-defined features and suggested they may relate to later use, which saw the whole of the southern half of the fort cultivated in low rigs.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2702