The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

     

Carn Ban

Stone Fort / Dun

<b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoyImage © drew/A/B
Nearest Town:Uig (10km SW)
OS Ref (GB):   NG48746825 / Sheet: 23
Latitude:57° 38' 2.59" N
Longitude:   6° 12' 35.87" W

Added by GLADMAN


Discussion Topics0 discussions
Start a topic



Show map   (inline Google Map)

Images (click to view fullsize)

Add an image Add an image
<b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoy <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoy <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoy <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoy <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoy <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by drewbhoy <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by thelonious <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by thelonious <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by thelonious <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by thelonious <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by thelonious <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by thelonious <b>Carn Ban</b>Posted by GLADMAN

Fieldnotes

Add fieldnotes Add fieldnotes
We approached following the same route as the Thelonius's for the first time, and from this side I thought it was dun. Many years ago I'd walked from Garafad (Cadha Riach) and thought it was a cairn. From there, as Gladman says, it looks like a sizeable cairn.

The thing, to me, that made my mind up is when walls fall from a dun (or fort/broch etc) even if on flattish ground, the stone scatter is much bigger, nearby buildings tend to be built next to rather than into (i.e. Eyre Manse cairn), also stones for cairn building tend to be hard to build or the wrong shape for walls (as I know from restoring many old dry steen dykes) whereas stones for duns tend to be built, therefore easier to use.

Anyway that's my thoughts, as for the dun, beautiful views of my old friend The Quiraing, Staffin and everywhere really. Like Canmore I think the entrance is in the north west.

Visited 20/7/2019.
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
6th August 2019ce

22/05/2013 - Easy access from the little road to the north. Just a short walk uphill past the house to Carn Ban. Marked as a cairn on the map but after reading Gladman's post below it makes more sense to me now as a dun or possible broch. Fantastic setting. thelonious Posted by thelonious
25th May 2013ce
Edited 25th May 2013ce

Miscellaneous

Add miscellaneous Add miscellaneous
Viewed from a distance (from the cliff top remains of the nearby Garafad chambered cairn) I took this site to be the disturbed remnants of a substantial round cairn. Judging by the nomenclature I am not the first to make such an (apparently incorrect) assumption; however it would appear that current thinking believes this to be the remains of a dun/broch. According to Canmore:

"Not a chambered cairn, but remains of a dun (or possibly a broch), mutilated and robbed for later settlement. The outer and inner faces of a wall varying between 3 - 3.5m in thickness, with an internal diameter of between 10 - 11m. The entrance passage (0.7m in width) lies at the NW. A circular structure some 2m in diameter and with a wall thickness of 0.8m sits in the northern quadrant of the interior, and is probably of a later date. Similarly hollows within the interior seem to be of a later date to the defensive works. Later rectangular buildings to the E, W and N and stone dykes, have probably absorbed some of the original fabric.
Visited by R Miket, 15 April 1988"

I fully intended a visit prior to the cloud mantle covering The Quiraing peeling away and offering the opportunity of a climb which I could not refuse. But there you are.
GLADMAN Posted by GLADMAN
7th July 2012ce
Edited 7th July 2012ce