Читать книгу The Isle of Skye. Graded walks and scrambles throughout Skye, including the Cuillin онлайн

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Gradually, however, the size of these fortifications reduced, and they began to be replaced by duns, and later, brochs. Quite why this reduction occurred is not clear, but it is likely that as tribes became smaller, so the need for large enclosures was less. The result was the ‘dun’, a fairly simple structure, quite often little more than a wall set across a promontory, while a ‘broch’ by comparison was a highly sophisticated drystone structure. The best preserved of the brochs on Skye is Dun Beag, off the Struan road to Dunvegan at NG339386, near Bracadale.

Cill Chriosd church, Strath Suardal (Walk 2.5)

The need for these defensive settlements was probably generated by invasions from mainland tribes. When these became preoccupied with the Roman presence further south, the result seems to have been a much more settled period of existence on Skye, and many of the brochs were abandoned, or robbed of their stone for the hut circles and souterrains that were to follow.

Hut circles were simply a ring of boulders with a wooden structure built on top, and formed the basic homestead for farming communities. Souterrains, however, pose more of a puzzle for archaeologists, but probably served as underground defensive structures against the malice of cattle raiders. One of the best on Skye is at Claigan (NG238539), north of Dunvegan.