Dùn Beic

The dun appears in local legend as being one of several fortresses held by Norsemen, who were defeated in battle against the ancestor of the Macleans of Coll.

There have been several archaeological finds at Dùn Beic; these include pieces of flint, burnt bone, and fragments of incised pottery.

[2] According to the 19th century historian W. F. Skene, Béc was the head of the branch of Cenél nGabráin, who possessed the southern half of Kintyre.

A few stretches of it are visible in the east, where the remains of the wall's rubble core and three courses of outer facing-stones stand 0.7 metres (2 ft 4 in) high.

In the centre of the west-most building, Beveridge dug a hole and found several round or oval stones which measured on average about an inch in length.

[6] In 1980, a group representing the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) visited the site and their survey of the interior of the dun described much of it as being unsuitable for habitation because of the rocky outcrops.

At the northern end of the site there is minor landslip which shows that the surrounding soil contained some burnt bone and potsherds; and that it had accumulated 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in) deep before the construction of the rectangular-shaped building.

Along the southwest edge of the dun, upon the top of the cliff, Beveridge found more of the same pebbles, as well as many fragments of hammerstones and pottery (some of which he described as "well patterned").

[5] The OS team which visited the site in 1972 noted that there were many fragments of pottery in the area, particularly on the western side, where the remains of part of a flat-bottomed pot were found.

In 1975–76, Iron Age sherds and slag from the site were donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) by the RCAHMS.

[6] North of Dùn Beic, located at grid reference NM1572056524, there are the remains of field walls and evidence of cultivation, showing that the local area was worked in the recent past.

[1] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several Coll traditions were published which concerned several fortifications (hillforts, duns, and crannogs) on the island—one of which was Dùn Beic.

[9][11] Beveridge also made note of traditions of another battle fought near Grishipol, in which Iain Garbh and his followers defeated a force led by his step-father Gilleonan, chief of the MacNeils of Barra.

However, he conceded that this date was calculated by the fact that when the Macleans of Coll sold their estate on the island in 1854, it was believed that they had owned their lands there for exactly 472 years.

It is said that MacLean of Duart already possessed Tiree, and that one of his sons determined to attack the Norseman (presumably an Olaf) in this islet stronghold.