Print

MHG5208 - Souterrain - Carn Urugag

Summary

A souterrain at Carn Urugag, south of Duntulm, Skye.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A souterrain at Carn Urugag, south of Duntulm, Skye.

No. 105: NG 416732: An earth house has been noted on the hillside below the rocky summit of Carn Urugag. The passage oriented ENE for c. 3m, curves NE for another metre and terminates in a circular chamber, c. 0.5m in diameter. The entrance is c. 0.65m wide; an exposed roofing stone is c. 8cm thick; the chamber is ruined but the passage is practically intact. <1>

The site was included in an inventory of souterrains on Skye by R Miket. The souterrain is found at the northern end of the Trotternish Ridge, where the ground descends in a series of broken steps to a more gently rolling landscape, before rising again at The Aird to overlook the Minch. The western lower slopes are interspersed with crag formations that have left extensive pockets of broken rock and scree debris. A broken rock formation lies at Carn Urugag on the eastern side of the small glen known as the Bealach Uachdarach. At the most prominent free-standing rock formation is a substantial detached boss of broken rock, rising some 21m above the saddle which connects it to the parent mass to the south. Just below its crown, there is a narrow platform, bordered with what was once a substantial wall, indicating the site of a previously unrecorded defended platform enclosed within a defensive wall. The souterrain lies on the southern edge of the platform, and in a position which puts it in intimate relationship with the defensive wall.

The gallery was originally 8.8m long of which only the middle 4.5m remains lintelled. The entrance opens directly onto the steep hill-slope just below the encircling wall. Though almost all the facing stonework of the encasing wall has gone, the gallery appears to lie at an angle across its line. No lintels remain over the initial 3m of the passage but from the first intact lintel it angles north-eastwards. Ten lintels with pinning stones remain in situ, resting upon reasonably coursed stone walls set into the scree. The width of the gallery is 0.7m below the lintels. Earth has filled the gallery-way to a depth of 0.18m from the underside of the lintels. Lintels are absent at the eastern end where the gallery appears to terminate in natural rock. To the north however, a lintelled `creep', 0.35m in length, gives access to a small, unroofed chamber measuring lm in length and 0.6m in width. <2>

Although the original grid reference in <1> is only accurate to 100m, it is also difficult to pinpoint the site more accurately from what is a far more detailed description in <2>. As such the NGR has been retained at that originally given [IS-L 28/06/2024].

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 4160 7320 (40m by 40m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG47SW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	KILMUIR

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (1)