Dun Beag is an
iron-age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly a ...
broch located about 1 kilometre northwest of the village of
Struan on the west coast of the island of
Skye, in Scotland.
Description
Dun Beag () is situated at the north end of a small rocky knoll.
The broch consists of a drystone tower with a diameter of around 18.6 metres with walls about 4 metres thick at the base.
The broch currently stands to a maximum height of 2 metres.
The interior has a diameter of about 11 metres, and the entrance is on the east side.
Internally three openings are visible in the broch wall.
One leads to a small chamber; a second leads to a long narrow gallery within the wall; and a third leads to the stone stair of which some twenty steps survive.
History
The broch was visited by
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales.
As a naturalist he h ...
in 1772, and it was still a substantial structure, with a height of perhaps 4 metres.
The following year a broch near
Ullinish
Ullinish (Gaelic: Uilfhinis) is a crofting township on Loch Bracadale, on the southwest coast of Skye, Scotland. The only promontory fort on Skye is located at Ullinish. It is situated to the west of Struan and just south of the hamlet of Ebos ...
, which was probably Dun Beag, was visited by
Samuel Johnson and
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer ...
during their ''Tour to the Hebrides''.
Around half of its wall height has been lost since the 18th century.
The broch was excavated by the Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour between 1914 and 1920.
Some 200 tons of earth and stones were removed from the broch and all the soil was sifted through the excavators' fingers.
The standard of recording and publication was poor.
Finds included many stone implements and utensils, a gold ring, bronze objects, a piece of folded sheet lead, iron and glass objects, a borer of bone, a pick made from an antler, much pottery and a stone cup.
Several hundred glass beads were found although they are not thought to be prehistoric.
Coins of
Henry II,
Edward I,
James VI
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
,
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
and
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
have been discovered, and it is possible that the broch was in use until comparatively recently.
References
External links
Dun Beag Historic Environment Scotland
{{Prehistoric Inner Hebrides
Brochs in the Isle of Skye
Historic Environment Scotland properties
Scheduled monuments in Scotland