Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich

Also known as:
Dunan Diarmaid
Nearest town:
Kyle of Lochalsh (19km W)
OS reference:
NG93952071
OS sheets:
25, 33
Latitude:
57° 13' 50.42 N
Longitude:
5° 24' 51.13 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

The weather wasn’t exactly the best.... nevertheless the fort’s command of the eastern part of Loch Duich is obvious.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 7, 2015
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

This low bank to the north-east of the summit area is (according to Canmore) unfortunately modern. However it’s the location of Dunan Diarmid – not the archaeological remains – which is the star of the show.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 7, 2015
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

Apparently site of the original entrance.... needless to say I’d already clambered up the steep flank.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 7, 2015
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

Apparently that’s Sgurr an t-Searraich towering above the dun.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 7, 2015
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

Sgurr na Moraich and Sgurr an t-Searraich form the very impressive backdrop to a very appropriate location for a dun (centre right, by the way).

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 7, 2015
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

Hopefully this conveys a somewhat ethereal mood. I certainly paid for it as a front duly swept down Loch Duich and the reflection did not return. Fleeting moments... [the dun is more or less on line of sight with the road bridge]

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 5, 2015
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by LesHamilton

This low bank surrounding a grass-covered saucer on the summit of the knoll is all that remains of Dunan Diarmid.

Image credit: Les Hamilton
LesHamilton
LesHamilton Sep 7, 2013
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by LesHamilton

The mound of Dunan Diarmid seen from the foreshore on Loch Duich.

Image credit: Les Hamilton
LesHamilton
LesHamilton Sep 7, 2013
Image of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich by GLADMAN

The dun in its wondrous landscape, commanding Loch Duich below the overawing ‘Five Sisters of Kintail’.... viewpoint is a strangely midge free Mam Ratagan.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 10, 2013

Articles

Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich

LesHamilton
LesHamilton Sep 7, 2013

Visited: August 31, 2013

Situated on a steep rocky knoll, just back from the foreshore of the Tigh a’Mholain peninsula at the head of Loch Duich, and less than two kilometres north of Shiel Bridge, lie the scant remains of Dunan Diarmid. Access from the landward side is denied by fencing, so you have to appproach along the shoreline, the easiest ascent to the summit being via the grassy eastern slopes.

If ever a location was deserving of a dun, this is it, moreso the disappointment on reaching the top: there is almost nothing to be seen. The small summit area is covered by grasses and wild flowers, and the only remaining evidence of Dunan Diarmid is a saucer-shaped grassy hollow to the north, delineated by a grassy bank a mere 30 centimetres high and less than half a metre wide. I spotted one earthfast kerbstone set into the south of the bank, and it is more than likely that more underlie it throughout its circumference.

There is no doubt that this dun would have commanded an exceptionally fine view in all directions. The sadness is that there is so little remaining to enjoy.

Miscellaneous

Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich
Stone Fort / Dun
C
CARL Aug 21, 2013

‘Drive by’ 26.7.13

Easily seen from the road as a large ‘pudding shaped’ rock outcrop at the end of Loch Duich.
Graet location for a Dun/Fort.

Canmore states:
‘Dunan Diarmid, the remains of a dun occupying the level summit of an isolated rocky knoll. Oval on plan, the dun measures 24.5m E-W by 16.0m N-S within a wall c. 2.5m thick, reduced to a stony scarp with a few stones of the outer face visible intermittently around the W half. A deep hollow at the modern S approach probably denotes the mutilated entrance. In the interior in the NE, is a modern enclosure, 6.0m E-W by 7.0m N-S within a wall 0.8m thick‘

Miscellaneous

Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich
Stone Fort / Dun
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Aug 4, 2013

Well seen from the viewpoint at Mam Ratagan, this small stone fort appears not to have survived the passage of time too well (unfortunately I did not have time to check this out conclusively owing to the unexpected excellence of Caisteal Grugaig.... maybe next time, then). Nevertheless the landscape context is first class, the enclosure crowning a rocky promontory near the far eastern shore of Loch Duich, set beneath a towering mountainscape including ‘The Five Sisters of Kintail’.

According to Canmore the dun is:

‘... Oval on (sic) plan, the dun measures 24.5m E-W by 16.0m N-S within a wall c. 2.5m thick, reduced to a stony scarp with a few stones of the outer face visible intermittently around the W half. A deep hollow at the modern S approach probably denotes the mutilated entrance. In the interior in the NE, is a modern enclosure, 6.0m E-W by 7.0m N-S within a wall 0.8m thick. [OS (A A) 13 June 1974]‘

Dunan Diarmid is one of a quartet of ancient defensive sites in the environs of Loch Duich.... the restored castle of Eilean Donan, to the west, apparently stands upon the remnants of a vitrified enclosure, whilst Torran a’Bharraich overlooks the southern flank. Arguably the finest is the broch of Caisteal Grugaig, near Totaig, complementing Eilean Donan guarding the confluence of Loch Duich with Lochs Long and Alsh.

Sites within 20km of Dunan Diarmid, Loch Duich

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.