Mull, Dun A' Chiabhaig
Dun (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Mull, Dun A' Chiabhaig
Classification Dun (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 21739
Site Number NM31NE 3
NGR NM 3878 1899
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/21739
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilfinichen And Kilvickeon
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM31NE 3 3878 1899.
(NM 3878 1899) Dun a' Chiabhaig (NAT) Fort (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)
Dun, Dun a' 'Chiabhaig: Situated on a prominent rocky knoll immediately NE of the public road leading from Bunessan to Uisken, and barely 300m from the shore at Port Uisken, there is a dun. On all sides but the W steep rock-studded slopes or vertical rock-faces up to 12m high afford strong natural protection. On the remaining side, however, the dun may be approached up be a gentle grassy slope. Roughly oval on plan, it measures about 30m from N to S by 15.5m transversely within a single stone wall which has been reduced to a low bank or scarp of stony debris in which a number of outer facing-stones can still be seen. No stones of the inner face have survived in position, but, if the elongated depression that appears in the wall-debris on the NW represents, as seems likely, the trench left by stone-robbers following the inner line of the wall, the original thickness at that point would be about 4.5m. The position of the entrance may be indicated by a pronounced dip in the core-material near the middle of the W side, but in that case the lowest courses of the outer face must have been continued across its mouth. The interior, which is partly overgrown with scrub, is divided into two unequal portions by a sinuous rocky scarp. A sub-rectangular enclosure of recent date abuts against the outer face of the dun wall on the NW.
RCAHMS 1980, visited 1974.
Noted as a fort when seen in 1972. Its condition was generally similar to that described by the RCAHMS (1980).
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (JP) 18 June 1972.
Field Visit (June 1974)
NM 387 189. Situated on a prominent rocky knoll immediately NE of the public road leading from Bunessan to Uisken, and barely 300m from the shore at Port Uisken, there is a dun. On all sides but the W steep rock-studded slopes or vertical rock-faces up to 12m high afford strong natural protection. On the remaining side, however, the dun may be approached up be a gentle grassy slope. Roughly oval on plan, it measures about 30m from N to S by 15.5m transversely within a single stone wall which has been reduced to a low bank or scarp of stony debris in which a number of outer facing-stones can still be seen. No stones of the inner face have survived in position, but, if the elongated depression that appears in the wall-debris on the NW represents, as seems likely, the trench left by stone-robbers following the inner line of the wall, the original thickness at that point would be about 4.5m. The position of the entrance may be indicated by a pronounced dip in the core-material near the middle of the W side, but in that case the lowest courses of the outer face must have been continued across its mouth. The interior, which is partly overgrown with scrub, is divided into two unequal portions by a sinuous rocky scarp. A sub-rectangular enclosure of recent date abuts against the outer face of the dun wall on the NW.
RCAHMS 1980, visited 1974.
Measured Survey (1974)
Dun a' Chiabaig was surveyed by RCAHMS using plane-table and alidade in 1974. The resultant pencil drawing was redrawn in ink and then published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1980 fig. 105).
