Dun Suladale - 2

Seven souls braved the foul weather forecast on 31st January to visit Suledale.  As usual the weather was nowhere near as bad as the forecast.

Iron age lookout (photo Iain Dick)

It had been a wet few days previously and the route from track to broch was quite muddy in places - slips were inevitable on the muddy edge of the burn - the first person to slip went back into the bank of the burn - the second - not to be outdone -  decided to swim backstroke in the burn - sorry no photos of that!  In spite of being wet through before even getting to the broch, she carried on - and gets lots and lots of brownie points for that.

Iain's photo of fairy

Close examination of the broch revealed that the fairy - spotted at the reccie - was still in residence - damaged wings had prevented her fleeing - or perhaps it is simply an enchanted broch!






We could clearly see all the aspects mentioned in Canmore/AOC report.


1) there is clearly a cell to the right of the entrance - nicely corbelled but full of rubble and it appears to have been accessed from the entrance passage as a lintel is visible very low down






2) There is evidence of walling above the entrance which the AOC report describes as the curved end of a cell or gallery.  We felt that the roof of the cell to the right of the entrance would have been higher than the floor of this cell/gallery so had a few questions about this.  did it simply go over the entrance and no further?  where was the access?  

su's blog 

shows a photo of this.

Canmore 
https://canmore.org.uk/site/11143/skye-dun-suladale
describes a door check on either side of the entrance - 5 - 6 " deep (in 1921), Mackie in 2007 (also on Canmore site) says:

the 2015 AOC report says:

 We believed that we could see possible bar holes - but to date I have not got any photos of these.



 

Dun Suladale

Dun Suledale (17/1/17)also written as Suladale
NG 3744 5255

Directions

A track, marked on the OS map, leads S off the A850 Dunvegan-Portree Road.  

Apparently the land where the broch is situated is a grouse moor so visiting in the winter is a good idea and visiting in summer, after the glorious twelfth, is probably a very bad idea.

Although not marked on the map, once you pass through the gates at the beginning of the track, it appears to branch off in three directions.  Take the track on the right, heading south.

Follow this excellent track for around a mile.  The broch will become visible on the left.  Continue on the track until almost level with the broch then set off over the rough, heather covered and rather boggy moorland.   Leaving the main track too early is not recommended as this will mean more boggy ground and watery burns to cross.

The broch

 The name Suledale (Suladale), according to Forbes, may mean Dun of the solan geese (see post on placenames) Solan geese are northern gannets.  I am no bird expert but I have only seen gannets right on the coast.  This broch is not that close to the coast.  So is the name origin wrong or is this perhaps the name of the tribe who built the broch?  Certainly some bronze age/iron age tribes apparently used animal names, almost like a "totem"...cf Epidii (supposedly related to horse god - tribe in Islay)
 

 The broch is in better condition than many we have visited.  The stones of the walls are very even in size and shape.  At least two "guard cells" are visible as well as a short flight of steps.  

Stairs

Cell in NE

The "passageway" to the entrance

There is some evidence of an outer wall and there are two lines of stones forming a passageway from that outer wall to the broch entrance.   Mackie seems to imply that this may not be original.... " a passage through the rubble to the broch entrance has been cleared here in modern times" (https://canmore.org.uk/site/11143/skye-dun-suladale)



 In summer 2015 AOC Archaeology did a survey of Dun Suledale using laser scanning – their results offer a far better description of the broch than I could attempt so just follow the link:

http://her.highland.gov.uk/hbsmrgatewayhighland/DataFiles/LibraryLinkFiles/292815.pdf

From AOC report

Survey plan from AOC report

In 1948, Mrs Edward Hilleary of Edinbane donated a few items, apparently found at/near Dun Suledale, to the British museum - the question marks on the datings are as written in British Museum Catalogue.

1.      Small sub-spherical stone bead, flattened at perforation. Traces of red colouring.  No image available for this one.  The description at the museum helpfully assigns the bead to “Neolithic? Bronze age? Iron age?”

2. Copper alloy spiral ring; made of thin strip forming four coils, and tapering to point at either end. Early Iron Age ? Late Bronze Age? 
   
   http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=Dun+suledale

3. Stone polisher, oval, flattened through use. Neolithic? Bronze age? Again no image available

Such finds would seem to indicate that this area was inhabited long before the broch was built.

This blog will be updated after our visit on 31/1/17 and improved by better photographs - taken by more skilled photographers than I am.

Continues : https://u3a-skye-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/dun-suladale-2.html