Dùn Beic
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Dùn Beic is a dun located on the
Inner Hebridean The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...
island of Coll. It is located at and is thought to date to between 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. The etymology of the dun's name is uncertain; one possibility is that it could be made up of a
personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
. The dun appears in local legend as being one of several fortresses held by Norsemen, who were defeated in battle against the ancestor of the Macleans of Coll. There have been several archaeological finds at Dùn Beic; these include pieces of flint, burnt bone, and fragments of incised pottery.


Etymology

The early 20th century antiquary Erskine Beveridge was uncertain of the etymology of ''Dùn Beic''. He noted that ''Beic'' is pronounced "Veyik" and speculated that it could be the
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
for "peak" or "beak". He also considered the possibility that the name could possibly be of non-Gaelic origin. Another possibility he considered was that it could represent a proper name and noted a historical figure—a Dál Riatan king named ''Béc''. According to the 19th century historian
W. F. Skene William Forbes Skene Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA(Scot) Doctor of Civil Law, DCL Legum Doctor, LLD (7 June 1809 – 29 August 1892), was a Scotland, Scottish lawyer, historian and antiquary. He co-founde ...
, Béc was the head of the branch of
Cenél nGabráin The Cenél nGabráin was a kingroup, presumed to descend from Gabrán mac Domangairt, which dominated the kingship of Dál Riata until the late 7th century and continued to provide kings thereafter. Kings of Alba and of Scotland traced their desce ...
, who possessed the southern half of Kintyre. Skene stated that they were descended from Conaing, one of the sons of Áedán mac Gabráin. Béc is recorded in the ''
Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...
'' as being killed in the year 707 ("Béc grandson of Dúnchad was killed"). According to Beveridge, he was slain by members of Cenél Loairn.


Description

Dùn Beic is located on the
Inner Hebridean The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...
island of Coll. It is situated on the island's northeast coast, about west-northwest of
Totronald Coll (; gd, Cola; sco, Coll)Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 31 is an island located west of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for ...
. It occupies the crest of a jutting cliff surrounded by the sea, which stands high. A dun is a building, or enclosed settlement, with a circular stone wall; usually situated on an elevated position. Dùn Beic's wall runs around the margin of the
summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
, though it has almost completely disappeared from sight. A few stretches of it are visible in the east, where the remains of the wall's rubble core and three courses of outer facing-stones stand high. The wall's course in the southwest and west is marked by a grassy bank. The plan of Dùn Beic's wall appears to have been oval-shaped, about northeast to southwest by . In 1903, Beveridge stated that upon the summit there were the scanty remains of several small buildings. In the centre of the west-most building, Beveridge dug a hole and found several round or oval stones which measured on average about an inch in length. When the site was visited by the Ordnance Survey (OS) in 1972, there was no evidence for any of these buildings. The OS, however, did find a rectangular-shaped hollow, about by about , which was considered to have been his
excavation Excavation may refer to: * Excavation (archaeology) * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Memo ...
. In 1980, a group representing the
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that was "sponsored" inanced and with oversightthrough Historic Scotland, an executive ...
(RCAHMS) visited the site and their survey of the interior of the dun described much of it as being unsuitable for habitation because of the rocky outcrops. The RCAHMS group discerned that the rest of the summit was occupied by a single building, of which only the foundation remains. This building lies on its long axis northwest and southeast. It measures ; the walls are on average thick and high. Near the centre of the north-eastern wall, there is an entrance which leads to an irregular hollow between two outcrops. At the northern end of the site there is minor
landslip Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...
which shows that the surrounding soil contained some burnt bone and potsherds; and that it had accumulated deep before the construction of the rectangular-shaped building. Below the cliff, in the east, there is a natural
gully A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...
within the rock. Beveridge stated that this natural rampart was likely artificially strengthened; however, the OS found no evidence to support this. The OS group could not find any evidence for an entrance to the dun, but noted that it was presumed to have been located in the northeast.


Archaeological finds

In 1903, Beveridge excavated the centre of one of the buildings he claimed to have been located at the summit. He found several round or oval stones which measured on average about an inch in length; and noted that such finds were commonly found on the duns of Coll and Tiree. Along the southwest edge of the dun, upon the top of the cliff, Beveridge found more of the same pebbles, as well as many fragments of hammerstones and pottery (some of which he described as "well patterned"). Along the dun's almost non-existent walls, he found two pieces of flint (although he consented that they were rough and of poor quality). Beveridge noted that finds of flint were scarce throughout the duns on Coll and the nearby island of Tiree. The OS team which visited the site in 1972 noted that there were many fragments of pottery in the area, particularly on the western side, where the remains of part of a flat-bottomed pot were found. Another fragment, decorated with horizontal grooves, was found on site. These finds were described as being typical of the coarse gritty ware found in other locations on Coll. In 1975–76, Iron Age sherds and slag from the site were donated to the
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture of Scotland, culture and History of Scotland, history, and the ...
(NMAS) by the RCAHMS. Later, M. W. Holley found 24 potsherds on the surface, located at . This find included four decorated rim sherds, which were found within the dun. Holley found 13 potsherds at ; and 23 potsherds at . North of Dùn Beic, located at , there are the remains of field walls and evidence of cultivation, showing that the local area was worked in the recent past.


Dùn Beic in Coll tradition

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several Coll traditions were published which concerned several fortifications ( hillforts, duns, and crannogs) on the island—one of which was Dùn Beic. One such tradition was collected by
Rev. The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...
John Gregorson Campbell, a former parish minister of Tiree, and published in 1895 Campbell's version runs as follows: According to Beveridge in 1903, the forts mentioned within this tradition are
Dùn Anlaimh Dùn Anlaimh, also known as Dùn Amhlaidh, and Eilean nan Cinneachan, is a crannog (an artificial island), located within Loch nan Cinneachan on the Inner Hebridean island of Coll. Upon the crannog there are the remains of walls and several build ...
, a crannog in Loch nan Cinneachan; Dùn Beic; and
Dùn Dubh Dùn Dubh is a hillfort, located on the Inner Hebridean island of Coll. The fort is one of three associated with a local tradition which states that they were once the fortresses of Norsemen before being defeated by a Maclean chieftain. The early ...
. The ''Iain Garbh'' mentioned was a son of Lachlann Bronnach, chief of the Macleans of Duart (d. after 1472). Iain Garbh (b. 1450) is claimed to be the ancestor of the Macleans of Coll. Beveridge also made note of traditions of another battle fought near Grishipol, in which Iain Garbh and his followers defeated a force led by his
step-father A stepfather or stepdad is a non-biological male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. Culture Though less com ...
Gilleonan, chief of the MacNeils of Barra. Beveridge reasoned that this particular battle against the MacNeils probably took place around 1470–1480; and wondered if there could be some sort of confusion between this conflict with the MacNeils and that of the Norsemen. In 1903, without prior knowledge to Campbell's tradition, Beveridge published another version of the 'Norsemen tradition' quoted above; one in which he had obtained '' viva voce''. According to Beveridge, the events within this version of the tradition were said to have taken place at the precise date of 1384. However, he conceded that this date was calculated by the fact that when the Macleans of Coll sold their estate on the island in 1854, it was believed that they had owned their lands there for exactly 472 years. Beveridge also noted that the first historical connection between any Maclean and the island of Coll appears in a charter of confirmation, dated 1495, which states the Macleans were granted a charter to the island in 1409. Beveridge's version of the tradition runs as follows: A version very similar to Beveridge's appears in the 1906 monograph written by Rev. Dugald MacEchern which was published in 1922. MacEchern acknowledges the work of Beveridge and his version runs as follows:


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dun Beic Archaeological sites in the Northern Inner Hebrides Coll Fortifications in Scotland Prehistoric sites in Scotland