Ancient fort on Skye recognised for its cultural significance

Sitting on a remote rocky coastal outcrop overlooking Loch Eynort, the unusual double-walled fort is around 2000 years old. The huge drystone walls are more than three metres thick in places.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) had previously surveyed the site by terrestrial laser scanning and by aerial laser scanning (or LiDAR), and recently proposed it for designation as part of a review of the historical assets found on Scotland’s national forests and land.

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Matt Ritchie, FLS Archaeologist, said: “The scheduling of Kraiknish Dun is recognition of not only its cultural significance but also the hard work of FLS staff and partners in undertaking a thorough archaeological record of the site.  

“Archaeological investigation is an important activity on the land we manage. By furthering our knowledge of the many archaeological sites, historic structures and cultural landscapes in our care we can understand how best to protect, conserve and present them.

“We use an array of survey techniques, including low altitude aerial photography and state-of-the-art laser scanning technology to create amazingly detailed records. These can then be combined with traditional methods of excavation, conservation management and artistic reconstruction drawings.”

Kraiknish Dun is not the only important Iron Age site on Skye forming part of the review. FLS is also looking to secure scheduling for a ruined souterrain – an underground stone-lined cellar – and a promontory fort overlooking the Sound of Sleat.  

The huge drystone walls of Kraiknish Dun are more than three metres thick in places (Forest and Land Scotland)

Mr Ritchie said: “The west coast of Scotland is home to some of Europe’s best-preserved Celtic architecture. Our stone-built brochs and duns are part of an Iron Age settlement pattern of defended homesteads that both protected their occupants and demonstrated land ownership and tenure. They were usually built in places with good agricultural land, with relatively productive soils and sheltered conditions. The people who built them were productive and self-sufficient farmers, growing barley and rearing cattle and sheep.

“The story of these defended homesteads – secure and domestic, constructed by experienced builders, and commissioned by well-to-do productive households – is told in To Build a Broch: from construction to conservation.

“We are proud to look after several remarkable examples of these important aspects of our shared cultural heritage – and to protect, conserve and present them for the enjoyment and benefit of current and future generations.”

Scheduling began in 1882, when the first Ancient Monuments Act was passed and is an ongoing process. It is carried out under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 with the aim of preserving Scotland's most significant sites and monuments as far as possible in the form in which they have been passed down to us today.

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Scotland’s oldest scheduled monuments date from around 8,000 years ago, when people first settled here. There are more than 8,000 scheduled monuments are spread across Scotland, ranging from prehistoric standing stones and burial sites, through Roman remains and medieval structures such as castles and monasteries, to later structures such as industrial mills and buildings constructed for the World Wars. Among the most recent scheduled monuments are Second World War gun emplacements and anti-invasion defences.

In August last year, the wreck of Europe’s first commercial steamship was designated as a scheduled monument by HES. It followed the recent discovery of the wreck of Henry Bell’s Comet in the fast tidal waters of the Dorus Mor, west of Crinan, Argyll and Bute.

Created by Henry Bell, a noted 19th-century entrepreneur from Helensburgh, Comet was a wooden paddle steamer, built in Port Glasgow by John Wood & Sons in 1811-12.

Speaking about the designation of the wreck, Dara Parsons, Head of Designations at HES, said: “In September 2020 we were invited to assess the remains of Comet for designation following its discovery by members of Dalriada Dive Club, Oban. There are very few examples of pre-1820 steamships known in the UK. As such the remains at the site of the Comet are extremely rare and merit further detailed study. Henry Bell’s Comet is of international significance as Europe’s first commercial steamship and occupies an important place in the history of steam-powered navigation.

"By designating the wreck with scheduled monument status, this means that visitors can dive on the wreck but must not disturb the wreck or remove artefacts without scheduled monument consent from Historic Environment Scotland, to help protect the remains of this significant vessel.”