Monument record MHG9131 - Cnoc Na Dail

NC01SE 5 0785 1331.
Surmounting a rocky knoll at NC 0785 1331 are remains of a dun. Roughly triangular on plan it has measured about 13m E-W by 9m at broader W end, within a wall which from the spread of debris seems to have varied between c. 2m in E and c. 5m at entrance midway along W side. Few stones of either face survive. Inside the dun, some 3.5m from the E end, an overgrown stony bank spread to 2m curves from N to S, but it is uncertain if it represents a secondary reconstruction of a larger dun, or whether it is actually the main dun wall with wall to E (which is less substantial) representing an outwork. The dun has undoubtedly been robbed to build a circular rubble-built sheep fold at foot of knoll in SE.
This fold appears to have been constructed on top of an earlier enclosure - possible a hut-circle, as the lower grass-covered courses indicate a wall thickness of c1.8m. Shieling bothies have been built into fold and a few lie outside it.
Surveyed at 1/10,000. Visited by OS (A A) 7 August 1974.

THE DUN - The knoll is very steep on its N and S sides, less so on its E and W. Our plan suggests that structure was circular, with strongly fortified entrance at W end and a separate outwork providing additional protection on E. The ground slopes gently upwards towards E end, with no indication that any attempt was made to level it inside the circular area. If it was regularly inhabited, it must have been an uncomfortable place to live.

THE HUT-CIRCLE - The OS. notes describe this structure as a sheepfold built on an earlier enclosure, possibly a hut-circle. Other features besides the thickness of the wall (our plan indicates an inner and outer wall varying between 1-2 m apart, with an apparent infilling of stones) are consistent with this suggestion, e.g. the internal diam. Of 11-12m; the walling in one or two places consists of large uniform level of the internal area; and the apparent enterance just S. of E.
The two sections of walling projecting inwards from the main inner wall, on the NW and NE, may well be bothies or lamb shelters, dating to the 18c. or later, but it is odd that so little - only two or three courses - is left of them. There are extensive stretches of field walls lower down the valley for which material from here and from the dun may have been taken.
If the structure was originally a bronze or iron age hut circle or roundhouse, was it earlier than or contemporary with the dun? Their close proximity - the circle is about 20m. SE of the dun measuring from their centres, and less than 10m. Below it - suggests that it might have been a living annexe to the dun. But the "circle" might on the other hand be the remains of a later structure which had no connection with the dun.
Lochbroom Field Club : Colin Scouller, date: 07/99.
See assoc. docs. File.

J Aitken : 05/02/01.