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MHG5285 - An Dun

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NG81NW 13 8244 1972.

(NG 8244 1972) An Dun (NAT)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1902)

Although this was dismissed as "a mound or knoll" by the original surveyor, APs (visible on RAF air photographs CPE/Scot/UK 288 3060-1) reveal on it a ditch and bank with a possible enclosure in the interior. Name Book 1873.

On top of this natural steep-sided knoll is a flat circular area 10.4m in diameter, defined on its S side by a scarp 0.4m high and by a very slight bank elsewhere. Below the scarp is a slight hollow suggestive of quarrying rather than a defensive ditch. The knoll is thickly covered with bracken and gorse and the circular area is completely devoid of stone. The site is a logical one for a small dun but other than the name "An Dun", there is little to prove this.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (W D J) 6 October 1966.

There is little doubt that this is the site of a thoroughly robbed dun (or possibly even a broch). The roughly circular level summit of the knoll, c. 10.5m in diameter, probably represents the original internal area whilst around its edge on the slope are patches of rubble which may represent the last traces of a robbed and quarried wall.
There are traces in the SE and NW of an outwork surrounding the dun at a distance varying between 4.0m and 8.0m from it. It is now best reserved in the NW as a short stretch of stony bank spread to 2.5m.
The ditch seen on APs is due to quarrying around the N arc.
Visited by OS (J M) 25 June 1974.

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 8243 1972 (80m by 80m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG81NW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	GLENELG

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