Looking across Camalaig Bay late evening.... the exquisite siting of this wondrous broch is all too evident, sitting approx centre of the image upon the Fiadhairt Peninsular. Macleod’s Tables rise beyond. Thanks are due to Les for guiding me here.
Healabhal Mhor looms beyond. This, the northern of Macleod’s Tables, possesses a Bronze Age cairn upon its extensive summit plateau... worth the climb if that’s your bag.
Looking across the main entrance and guard chambers...
Mural gallery.......
The little ‘proto-postern’ upon the eastern arc.... very unusual.
Rarely in my experience is the ‘double-skinned’ construction of the broch so well highlighted as here......
With the Black Cuillin rising top right and (should you like that sort of thing) Dunvegan Castle to centre left.
Dun Fiadhairt, viewed from the east, with the small rear entrance highlighted against the sky.
The stone lined passage leading to the main (western) entrance to Dun Fiadhairt.
The well preserved passage leading to the western entranceway to Dun Fiadhairt.
Overlooking the main entranceway, into the right-hand guard cell.
The fine intra-mural stairway which once led to a now vanished second level.
A composite image highlighting the fine preservation of the ground-level gallery, and its considerable width.
Dun Fiadhairt from within, looking towards the main entrance on its western side.
The well constructed, though small, rear entrance passage on the east side of Dun Fiadhairt.
Panoramic composite view over Dun Fiadhairt, with McLeod’s Tables beyond.
Overlooking the main entranceway of Dun Fiadhairt.
An elevated view over Dun Fiadhairt.
A well preserved gallery at Dun Fiadhairt.
Visited: September 2, 2013 and May 29, 2016.
Just a kilometre and a half north of the much more famous Dunvegan Castle lies the Fiadhairt peninsula, an island but for a connecting strip of land barely 50 metres wide. Invisible from the road, here lies the magnificent Dùn Fiadhairt, in my view, its interior the best preserved of all the brochs on Skye save Dùn Beag.
Just before the main road north crosses Loch Suardal there is space to park, and less than 100 metres farther on a prominent path leads left through a gate on to the peninsula. Follow this path and it takes you to the broch.
The first aspect of Dùn Fiadhairt reveals its eastern portal, complete with a triangular lintel. The main entrance, at the west, is a passageway lined with stones, which leads to a wide entranceway with a further internal portal on each side leading into the impressive ground-level galleries. The double walls, which rise internally to between 6 and 8 courses almost everywhere around the broch are well preserved, as is the gallery between them. Near the diminuative eastern entranceway, a flight of steps leads up to a long destroyed second level.
If there is one particular ‘must see’, unrestored broch on Skye, this is it. It may seem to be in the back of beyond, but access is easy: it takes just a leisurely 20 minute stroll through delightful lochside scenery to reach it.
There’s lots more to learn about this magnificent broch at Canmore.
