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MHG5255 - Dun - Dun Hasan

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Type and Period (5)

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Full Description

Dun Hasan (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Rudha nam Brathairean is a low flat peninsula connected with the high cliff of the mainland by a narrow ridge rising to a sharp crest. Blocking the outer edge of this ridge is a flat-topped rock with precipitous sides, rising about 100' from the sea and about 50' above the flat grassy plateau between it and the extreme point of the promontory. The summit of this rock occupied by Dun Hasan, is of irregular shape and measures about 88' NW-SE by 40'. Across the SW, accessible, side are the remains of a straight, well-built, drystone wall erected at a distance varying from a few inches to about 4' from the edge of the rock. The entrance through this wall is broken down, but for a distance of about 18' to the NW the outer face shows a height of some 2'6", and the extension to the SE is clearly defined, though covered with vegetation. Round the remaining part of the circumference of the dun there is a parapet of earth and a few stones, 6' in width and 3' in height.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1915.

Not an Iron Age defence, but a later complex occupying the whole of Rubha nam Brathairean, probably a monastic establishment.
The structure described by RCAHMS and planned by OS field surveyor (A S P) occupies the whole of the level summit of a triangular precipitous crag known as Dun Hasan, which rises some 20' above the approach route from the SW along a crumbling knife-edged ridge. It measures internally about 19.5m N-S by 8.0m at its widest point in the S, within a wall of indeterminate thickness whose straight, vertical outer face in the W is well preserved to a maximum height of 0.9m, with traces of it also in the E and S. The wall is bonded with shell mortar. Midden material of animal bones and winkle shells is visible in the collapsed SW corner. The entrance, reached by means of a winding path up the cliff, has been midway along the W side but has completely fallen away. Except for a circular depression 1.5m in diameter and 0.3m deep in the SW corner, possibly a well, the interior is featureless.
A similar precipitous path leads down the crag in the NE to a level turf-covered subrectangular area measuring c. 80.0m NE-SW by c. 60.0m, bounded by cliffs in the NW and SE and by a natural depression c. 20.0m wide in the NE. There are traces of a wall around the edge with an intermittent outer face visible in the E and in the NW corner where it stands to a height of two courses. The interior is featureless. Immediately NE of the natural depression is another level area, roughly triangular on plan and measuring c. 60.0m NE-SW by c. 33.0m at its widest point in the SW. This too has been surrounded by a wall, best preserved as a turf-covered bank along the N side with several outer facing stones visible. In the interior are two small turf-covered structures, one oval measuring c. 5.0m x c. 3.5m near the NE corner,
the other circular c. 4.0m in diameter about midway near the SE side. There are also traces of other possible structures too vague to interpret.
Visited by OS (A S P) 27 April 1961 and (A A) 4 November 1971.

Following reassessment by Historic Environment Scotland it has been concluded that the site represents the remains of a dun with two entrances. The site was Scheduled in 2017 with the adjacent quernstone quarry (see MHG52601). <1>

GIS spatial data was amended in 2018 using 2009 vertical APs. <2>

The Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre contains a rim sherd and whetstone from the vicinity of Dun Hasan. The rim sherd is recorded from 'close to the side' of the dun, at NG 5262 6262, and the whetstone is recorded from 'at the foot of the dun, on the north side, in a disturbance of a small rectangular building', at NG 528 628. It is unknown whether either are associated with the dun. Acc, Nos. 1995.2 and 1988.3. <3>

Sources/Archives (4)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 5272 6272 (154m by 154m)
Map sheet	NG56SW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	KILMUIR

Finds (2)

Related Monuments/Buildings (2)

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