Dun Ard an t'sabhail

Dun Ard an t’sabhail

NG318333

Visited 9/5/17

Directions:

We parked beside the road near the large barn at the hairpin bend.  Room for a couple of cars well tucked in, while still allowing for passing traffic.

Our visit was during an unusually long, dry spell – could be quite a boggy trek normally.  To avoid detours and climbing fences (never a good idea – a) there is usually barbed wire in top and b) fencing is very expensive and the more people climb it the more it gets damaged) – take the gate in front and to the right of the large barn and follow the fence line up, through a second gate.  Please ensure gates are closed behind you.  The broch is situated on a high rocky crag best approached from the left.  Follow a break in the cliffs and clamber up the steep grassy slope to the summit.

The broch:

Although the broch is in quite a ruinous state, it still retains sufficient of its structure to merit a visit.  The broch is situated in an easily defended spot on top of a rocky knoll with extensive and beautiful views all around.

First view

Amazing views

David admiring the views

       

   A pile of tumbled stones in the northern sector is said to be the remains of a cairn.

https://canmore.org.uk/site/11076/skye-dun-ard-an-t-sabhail

Guard Cell

 The entrance and one “guard cell” to the left of the entrance are easily identified and traces of a second cell are indicated by a hollow within the walls on the other side of the entrance.





Canmore mentions a scarcement, noted in 1921 but we were unable to find any evidence of this.
 

Meaning of Ard an t'sabhail:

Most Duns or brochs are simply named after the nearest settlement.  Some of today’s names are derived from Gaelic while others are derived from Norse – both languages being rather later than the dates when the duns were constructed. We have no way of knowing what their original names were or if any of the modern names bear any resemblance to the original names.

Forbes suggests Ard an t’sabhail means the height or promontory of the barn. 
He also comments that the name could be derived from Há-fjall – high fell in Norse.  Local Gaelic speakers have informed me that the word Sàbhail can mean salvation or protection

All interesting ideas – Several people have proposed the idea that brochs were used for storing grain (eg.Harrison and Maher) which fits in nicely with the concept of Sabhail being  from Sabhal = barn but the concept of a place of safety or protection (Sàbhail = to save) is fits in with the idea of the broch being a defensive structure and place of refuge.


References

Canmore: https://canmore.org.uk/site/11076/skye-dun-ard-an-t-sabhail

Forbes, Alexander Robert, (1923)  Place names of Skye and Adjacent Islands (digitsed by SMO http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/files/PDFs/00915325_Place_Names_of_Skye.pdf

Harrison, Ramona and Maher, Ruth A. (2014) Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: A Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time,
Lexington Books

Dun Ardtreck Visit

Dun Ardtreck

Visited on 9/5/17

For archaeology notes and a plan of the Dun, see the previous post on Dun Ardtreck  

A short walk from the parking spot near NG338354, room for two carefully parked cars only! 

Helpful signposts directed us from there to the track through gates and onto the moorland.  A less friendly, but perhaps necessary, sign was on a final gate - to the effect that any dogs worrying sheep would be shot!


 The Dun soon comes into view (NG33503581)

Dun Ardtreck has been the subject of much controversy among archaeologists.  Is it a D shaped semi broch (Mackie)? Is it a full circular broch where sea erosion has caused part of the walls to fall into the sea (Harding and Martlew)?  Is it simply a variant of the complex roundhouse class (Armitt)?

The last visible stone in one of the "legs" of the D

My own feeling is that it is a D shaped broch (aka semi broch)  as I believe the walls flatten out a little towards the sea and there does seem to be evidence of a wall at the edge of the cliff.  Whether being a D shape makes it a semi broch – Mackie style - or a variant of a complex roundhouse class – well I wouldn’t know but I am not at all sure that the two ideas are contradictory anyway except insofar as Mackie believed the semi broch could have been a prototype of the full brochs.  

 Dun Ringill, Dun Grugaig Glenelg and Dun Ruigh Ruaidh near Loch Boom are other examples of semi brochs according to Mackie. (We visited Dun Ringill in July 2016 ( dun ringil)  and Dun Grugaig in May 2016  (no write up for that part of the trip)

"Guard cell"

Part of an outer wall?

One of the door checks

Detail of stone work

Dun Ardtreck is certainly situated in a highly defensive position

One of the finds at the site was a Roman military style axe - now housed in the Huntarian museum.  The axe wasfound in the phase three deposits.  Such a find is very unusual in remote Highland sites and one possible explanation, offered by Mackie, is that it came directly from the Roman fleets of the governor Agricola's campaign around 80Ad.  Perhaps a gift to the local chieftain?

From the Dun we continued towards the light house and looked at the deserted township at Ardtreck Point.  The township must have been deserted some time ago as the OS map of 1881 ( 6" sheetXXX111) shows five un-roofed buildings. However, we saw more than five and Canmore states that the1969 current edition of the OS 1:10560 map shows fourteen un-roofed buildings and three enclosures.

Dun Ardtreck meaning:
The Dun takes its name from the township at Ardtreck Point   Forbes suggests the name could be derived from Aird Bhreach - meaning speckled point.

References:

Armit, I. (1996) The archaeology of Skye and the Western Isles. Edinburgh 


Forbes, Alexander Robert, (1923)  Place names of Skye and Adjacent Islands (digitised by SMO http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/files/PDFs/00915325_Place_Names_of_Skye.pdf.

  Harding, D. W. (2004) , The Iron Age in Northern Britain: Celts and Romans, Natives and Invaders, Routledge, London & New York

Mackie, Euan, Aspects of the origins of the brochs of Atlantic Scotland,retrieved 15/5/17

Mackie, Euan, Excavations at Dun Ardtreck (2000)

(retrieved 5/5/17)

Mackie, Euan, Dun an Ruigh Ruadh, Loch Broom  http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdfplus/10.3366/gas.1980.7.7.32, retrieved 15/5/17

Martlew, R. (1982 )The typological study of the structures of the Scottish brochs, in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 1981-82. vol. 112: 254-76.  Quoted in Mackie above.