Dun (fortification)

In certain instances, place-names containing Dun- or similar in Northern England and Southern Scotland, may be derived from a Brittonic cognate of the Welsh form din.

Vitrified forts are the remains of duns that have been set on fire and where stones have been partly melted.

Duns are similar to brochs, but are smaller and probably would not have been capable of supporting a very tall structure.

Good examples of this kind of dun can be found in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, on artificial islands in small lakes.

The word dun is, along with like-sounding cognate forms, an element frequently found in Celtic toponymy; especially that of Ireland and Scotland.