Dun nan Gall Broch

Courtesy of Dr Sue Reed

Dun nan Gall Broch

This broch lies about 700 m WNW of Kilbrennan Farm.  It sits at the end of a rocky coastal promontory on the summit of a low knoll and is only 3 m above sea level.  As a defensive position the site lacks advantages, because it can be approached easily from the south east along the ridge of the promontory and is exposed on all other sides at low tide.

Courtesy of Dr Sue Reed

It is possible to trace almost the complete circuit of both the outer and inner faces of the well-built dry-stone wall, which is 1.2 m in height on the north side, where it is best preserved.  It varies in thickness between 3.0 m and 4.1 m, and surrounds an internal space 10.4 m in diameter.  The entrance, which is about 1.2 m wide at the inner and outer ends, and checked for a door, is on the east side.  The passage widens to 1.5 m immediately inside the checks and bar-holes for a wooden draw-beam can still be seen.  There is a ledge supported by slight corbelling on the inner wall about 0.6 m above the ground, and a 1.0 m wide passage opens on the south side giving access to a stair leading upwards within the wall.  Of the five other openings in the inner wall, four were probably just voids or relieving slits in the upper wall, but the fifth may have been the entrance to an intramural gallery.

Courtesy of Dr Sue Reed

Click on images to enlarge

Grid Reference NM 43200 43100

To view a map, click on the link below