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Fieldnotes
| Visited: September 5, 2017 Though not highlighted on the OS Map, there is a lay-by at NC521581 just east of the A855 Portree to Staffin road, and this is the starting point for a visit to the remains of Rigg Promontory Fort. Be advised though, that this lay-by is deeply rutted - more like the surface of the Moon than a car-park. So drive with care. From the lay-by, Rigg Fort is visible 130 metres below at the foot of a seriously steep, grassy hillside, as a triangular, grassy peninsula flanked on both sides by vertical 15 metre high cliffs. I would not recommend a descent unless you have a good head for heights, are an experienced hill walker and are equipped with stout hillwalking boots. Nevertheless, the descent provides few terrors and the gradient, through grass and short bracken, can be eased by careful zigzagging on the way down. Remember: you will have to climb back up again, so a degree of fitness is essential. The remains of Rigg fort consist of a wall, at least two metres thick, which completely cuts off the grassy peninsula. Only the inner and outer foundation courses, consisting of sturdy boulders, remain today, but it must have been a formidable barrier in its time. There is no sign of walling round the perimeter of the fort, but the vertical cliffs all around would have deterred any intruder. The peninsula abuts a narrow coastal plain where sheep graze today and where a community could have subsisted in isolation. A stream nearby would be a ready source of water. There are distinct similarities between the Rigg Fort and Dun Grugaig near Glasnakille. Both fortifications consist of a thick wall that isolates a narrow, cliff-girt peninsula from the mainland. In the case of Dun Grugaig, there remains significant broch-like galleried architecture in the protecting wall, which in places stands four metres tall. At Rigg, the wall is reduced to its foundation level, but who knows what it might have looked like in its prime. |
Posted by LesHamilton9th September 2017ce Edited 22nd October 2017ce
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