Dunan Nan Nighean

Nearest town:
Lochgilphead (44km E)
OS reference:
NR4155797596
OS sheet:
61
Latitude:
56° 6' 3.81 N
Longitude:
6° 9' 23.35 W
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Dunan Nan Nighean

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Mar 28, 2025

Plenty of space to park on the field at Kiloran Bay. From here I headed straight east, in the direction of Dunan Nan Nighean (Little Fort Of The maidens) and found a route over Ruiteachan Eorna (barley grass), remarkably dry considering the storm that happened 2 days before. That soon changed, the east had been sheltered by the hills, small streams were still mini rivers, the area known as Leanan Nan Lasgairean (the children of the firemen) was a swamp, plenty of water for the firemen. The storm had taken some weird directions before heading back out to sea.

Somehow I remained reasonably dry and went north of the site to swing round it to approach from the east. What looked like the remains of stone steps made the steep climb easier – Canmore mentions 2 steps but I found quite a few more. At the top the first thing seen is the reconstructed lintel entrance. Spectacular views over to Jura and beyond can be seen.

The wall on the east, containing the lintel, is in good condition, Whoever did the reconstruction did a great job. Also in reasonable condition is the south wall, sadly the same can’t be said of the north wall. A hut that was in the east side of the dun had been had been put into the west wall or flung over the side. Some of the rubble from this also joined the fallen stonework scattered on the dun’s floor. It is small for this type of site, almost 8m east to west by almost 4m north to south. The walls are almost 3m wide.

One good thing about being high above the bog to the west was to spy a way back, even more luckier was to see a sheep’s path which led, in a very twisty but dry way, back to the road near the Cnoc Beag Cairn, from there head south to the gateway at Kiloran Bay.

Spectacular site!

Visited 14/08/2024.

Sites within 20km of Dunan Nan Nighean

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