#dun skeig

Dun Skeig Hillfort and Coast of Argyll

This hillfort has a great location to watch over the sea and you can see as far as Jura on a good day (while we were there there was a persistent low cloud). Certainly, the Isle of Gigha is looming on the horizon in my photos. Before roads were built along the coast and into the Highlands, it was much faster and easier to travel around by boat (and probably still is), and many settlers came over from Ireland. Those people were known as the ‘Scots’ and they ended up giving their name to Scotland eventually. Their presence can be felt all over Argyll. This hillfort, though, is particularly interesting, not just because it’s well preserved, but because it’s somewhat unusual in that there is two of them. There is an older fort, which is ‘vitrified’, meaning the stone has molten,  potentially from a fire that may have destroyed the fort. The only remains of the old fort are grass-covered walls. A new fort was built on the other side of the hill peak, re-using some of the vitrified stone. Much of the wall is still standing and especially once you get up into the air, you can truly appreciate this structure.

My Argyll Holiday Vlog is up on my channel.