DUN DORNAIGIL HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE. Property in Care (PIC) ID: PIC289 Designations:

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1 Property in Care (PIC) ID: PIC289 Designations: Scheduled Monument (SM90113) Taken into State care: 1974 (Guardianship) Last reviewed: 2004 HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE DUN DORNAIGIL We continually revise our Statements of Significance, so they may vary in length, format and level of detail. While every effort is made to keep them up to date, they should not be considered a definitive or final assessment of our properties. Historic Environment Scotland Scottish Charity No. SC Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH

2 Historic Environment Scotland Scottish Charity No. SC Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH

3 DUN DORNAIGIL BRIEF DESCRIPTION The monument comprises a broch tower of later prehistoric date. Most of the broch has been reduced to the first-floor level, apart from a section on the east which stands up to 6.7m, supported internally by a modern buttress. It is sited in what, by modern standards, is the isolated valley of Strathmore, Sutherland. The broch tower stands proud against the modern road. The interior is filled in and inaccessible, although the fit and able no doubt scale the walls to explore the interior of the broch wall-heads at first floor level. CHARACTER OF THE MONUMENT Historical Overview There is a rich and fascinating antiquarian and later history associated with the discovery and interpretation of broch towers/complex roundhouses as a whole. Cordiner (1780) and Pennant (1772) are two of the earliest antiquaries to be attracted to this site. Their accounts are important records of how much more of the broch then survived. Although one of the first sites in Scotland to be scheduled (1882), Dun Dornadilla only came into state care in However, it had been on the surveillance list and received conservation attention from HES s predecessor body. The monument was laser scanned by AOC in 2007 Archaeological Overview The interior has never been excavated and as such it is unique among the brochs in HES s care. Broch towers were probably erected to reflect the prestige and status of their inhabitants. While they may also have some defensive qualities, their inhabitants were farmers like nearly everyone else at this time. Nonetheless, there would have been something else, perhaps control over land, people or other resources, that singled broch tower inhabitants out from others. The artefacts found at excavated broch towers and complex roundhouses often provide evidence for the long-distance contacts and wealth of their inhabitants. The presence of Roman artefacts in a part of Scotland that was not conquered by the Romans throws up questions about how these got here and what relationship this part of Scotland had with Romanised parts of Britain. The nature of broch tower construction may argue for the existence of specialist broch tower builders. If so, this raises interesting questions about how society was organised and the role that such people played. The main centre for the development of complex roundhouses and broch towers would appear to be Orkney, which begs a series of questions about the relationship between the élite groups here and those who lived elsewhere in the Atlantic province. 1/3

4 Artistic/Architectural Overview Dun Dornaigil (also known as Dun Dornadilla) is distinguished among other brochs by the height to which it has survived, and the presence of a triangular lintel stone over the door, which is rare. There is no obvious evidence for external structures associated with the broch, although the modern road may have destroyed them. Broch towers, drystone structures built with a hollow wall construction containing superimposed galleries and a range of other distinctive architectural features, are a form of roundhouse found exclusively in N and W Scotland. (A small number of monuments in southern Scotland are clearly also influenced by this style of architecture.) They belong to what is known as the Atlantic roundhouse tradition, with origins (in N Scotland so far only) in massive simple roundhouses (dating around BC) and more widespread, complex Atlantic roundhouses (dating around BC). Dating of the ultimate expression of this architectural form, broch towers, is problematic, but they seem to appear around 200 BC, occupation often being at its peak in the 1 st -2 nd centuries AD and sometimes continuing as residences (as distinct from squats ) until as late as the mid 1 st millennium AD. This building form is unique to Scotland. Atlantic roundhouses are difficult to classify in the absence of excavation and because they have usually lost their upper levels, but the best estimate is that there may be 500 examples in Scotland, of which less than 100 fall into the category of broch towers. Dun Dornadilla is one of the five broch towers (all in state care) that survive to anywhere near their original height. There is considerable debate about what form the roof of broch towers, indeed most Atlantic roundhouses, took. This is only one of the many perplexing questions about broch tower construction that make their study so fascinating. For instance, where was the main floor level and what were the laddered wall voids for? Social Overview Not known. NB the site is far from any significant modern settlement. Spiritual Overview The house was at the heart of the community and increasing evidence is being found for how prehistoric house design, including that of broch towers, closely reflected the inhabitants view of the world (cosmology). Religious belief was not divorced from the domestic sphere and we still have much to learn here. Aesthetic Overview This tall and sturdy monument sits imposingly on a terrace within a broad valley overlooking the nearby river. Its triangular lintel is a feature of visual interest. What are the major gaps in understanding of the property? Why is this broch here? Part of an important routeway, close to a water source? More research required. 2/3

5 What was this valley like in later prehistory, and how does settlement here fit into the wider picture of Iron-Age settlement? For example there are remains of earlier and later settlement evidence nearby elsewhere in the valley, which suggests long period of occupation until fairly recent times. The archaeological potential of the broch interior must be high. The site can only be dated by analogy with other monuments. ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Key points One of the most outstanding surviving examples of a very unusual and sophisticated type of later prehistoric (Iron-Age) settlement that is unique to Scotland and among the best preserved prehistoric architecture in Europe. However, as an unexcavated broch little that can be said specifically about this site, although its archaeological potential is high. The broch tower s location is certainly isolated in modern terms and needs understanding in the context of wider past settlement patterns. This isolation helps explain the quality of its survival. Important source of evidence for the nature and complexity of later prehistoric occupation of Scotland both before and beyond the Romanised parts of Britain. With the notable exception of Old Scatness (Shetland), HES cares for all the significant broch historic attractions in Scotland, and these are well-distributed throughout the area in which Atlantic roundhouses were to be found. Associated Properties Dun Carloway, Dun Troddan, Dun Telve, Mousa (not least for exceptional height); Gurness, Midhowe (with their associated villages), Jarlshof, Clickhimin, Carn Liath, Dun Beag; Edin s Hall (related architecture in southern Scotland). Ness of Burgi (related architecture in northern Scotland). The countryside has many unexcavated broch mounds and the occasional excavated site, such as the Keiss brochs, Caithness. To date, the only significant formal non-hes heritage attraction that includes a broch is Old Scatness, Shetland, adjacent to Jarlshof. Keywords broch tower, Iron Age, evidence for broch upper levels, unexcavated, isolated, Cordiner, Pennant. 3/3