Visited: September 7, 2015
For several years, I have been stopping briefly in the village of Bernisdale, three km north of Skeabost on the A 850, to search for the small dun listed by Canmore. But I could never find it. This year, instead of parking in the village, I stopped in the lay-by on the main road: and there it was, staring me in the face, as a neat mound clad in purple heather, mid-way between the main road and the old road through the village.
Dun Bernisdale was a small fortification, even in its heyday: Canmore attributes it with a width of just three metres and an area of ten square metres. Very much a ‘pocket’ fortification.
Walking round the site I could understand how it proved so elusive. So little remains that, from almost every direction, the dun simply blends anonymously into the landscape. Only from the lay-by had it sufficient profile to be instantly recognisable. It was fortuitous that I chose to stop there.
Stone robbing has left very little remaining structure, save a few large foundation blocks to the south where the dun rises to its maximum height. In all other directions, the dun simply tapers gradually into its surroundings.