
Huge walls on the south west flank.
Huge walls on the south west flank.
Man made wall meets natural wall on the south east.
Southern tip.
Northern wall looking south west towards Old Ulva and Carn Mor.
We approached along the top of this ridge from the east.
Iron Age meets Medieval.
Wall on the south, incredible thickness of wall.
Looking east, beautiful colour of water.
Further to the south west, looking back on the collapsed wall.
The massive walls head south west.
Tumble down, these walls must have been massive – north end.
The ditch like feature at the north end.
Inside the dun, the building inside and squared dry stone dyke probably Medieval, the rest – the outer wall is original.
On top of the south wall, the sea loch of the same name below.
Tumbled wall on the south west.
Iron Age wall on the south west.
On the east entrance
Below the eastern walls.
The remarkable Dun Mhuirich, middle of photo, viewed from the north east.
Dun Mhuirich is a stunning site in a stunning location looking onto Linne Mhuirich, a sea loch that heads south to meet up with Loch Sween, so an excellent position to keep an eye on the water traffic as well.
We approached from the north, parking at Tayvullin (a place that would get used again) and walked south on the B8025 until the first gate on the east. The dun is in front easily spotted and can be reached by walking along a ridge which leads straight to the site. In older says the entrance was over 1m wide and to the south. No door checks sadly here, they’d appear elsewhere, but plenty of stonework.
The main wall of the site was built just below the flat summit and surrounded the oval shaped dun, 15m by 12m. It must have been huge as it still stands at 3m wide and in places almost 2m high. There is a massive amount of tumbled stone and outer defences.
Later people, particularly during Medieval times to full advantage of the resources and built several impressive structures inside the dun.
A must visit site.
Visited 03/04/2023.
The remains of four ancient forts may be found within this district, their walls clearly distinguishable. They are of great age and their dates are uncertain.
An interesting stone can be seen by the roadside near the fort of Dun Mhuirich. It has a rounded hollow like a small basin, and is known as the christening stone. It is thought that it was used for christening stillborn or illegitimate children, but it may even belong to a pre-Christian era and have been turned to its later use after Christianity came to the country.
Heritage of our village – Tayvallich
Photos of the site before more trees appeared.