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MHG5764 - Fort - Dun Adhamh

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Type and Period (3)

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Full Description

NG45SW 15 4092 5464.

(NG 4103 5462) Dun Adhamh (NR)
OS 6"map, (1968)

On a flat-topped rocky mass, rising from the hillside about 400 yards E of the road from Portree to Uig, is Dun Aidh, marked Dun Adhamh on the map. The oval plateau, 50' above the surroundings with is main axis almost NW-SE is surrounded by the remains of a stone wall c. 10' thick, the interior measuring c. 94' in length and an average of c. 40' in breadth. Outside a ditch, 12' wide at the base of the rock around the NW end, is an earthen rampart 9' broad and 1 1/2' high. A gap, 38' wide, in its N arc contains a mound 25' x 18' over all, on top of which is a circular stone construction, now overgrown and with an internal diameter of 5'9" enclosed by a wall 2 1/2' thick. The purpose of this feature cannot be determined without excavation.
A narrow entrance is traceable in the SE end of the dun. immediately on entering the fort a roughly oval enclosure, 27' x 17', is seen abutting on the wall in the E angle, and 7' to the W of it are the remains of a hut circle about 8' in diameter. In the NW end there are indications of at least two others.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1921.

Dun Adhamh, a fort generally as described and planned by RCAHMS. The wall varies in thickness between 3.2m in the E and 1.8m in the W. Although there are indications of possible structures in the interior, no structural details can be seen to support the RCAHMS report of an enclosure and hut circles. Protecting the easier approach from the NW, the ditch and rampart are in poor condition and in the N are mutilated by a later shieling type structure reported as a "circular stone construction" by RCAHMS. The terminals of this outwork are not clear and it is possible that it was never completed. There are traces of a wall, protecting the W flank between the fort and the ditch and rampart. A tumbled rectangular building lies outside the E arc of the fort and there are several dykes of the same late period in the area.
Visited by OS (R L) 16 September 1971.

Note: NGR adjusted to position as seen on 1999-2001 vertical APs [IS-L 08/02/2017].

This site was included in the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland online database. See link below for site entry. <1>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 4103 5462 (100m by 100m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG45SW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	SNIZORT

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