Lieutenants of the Coast 2

It is a natural fortress separated from the main peninsula by the Carn Mor and a deep gully, the Slochd Dubh (Black Slot). Sheltering under Carn Mor are the farmhouse and settlement, and below that, a small inland loch is connected to the sea by a stone-lined canal built by the Vikings. Off the canal are two boat slips.(7)

Above the canal, on a rocky bluff stand the massive stones of one wall of an ancient dun, possibly up to 4,000 years old (8) and, by the loch, are the remains of two cairns, one chambered. Today the buildings are in ruins.

Here it was, as described in the "Peat Fire Flame":

"that, night and day in olden times, MacLeod of MacLeod maintained a Lieutenant of the Coast as a means of protecting his territory against the punitive and predatory raids of the Norsemen, and of the MacDonalds of Clan Ranald, who came sailing out from the shelter of the Small Isles, which they used as a convenient jumping-off place for their attacks on the south-western parts of MacLeod's Country.
The office of Lieutenant of the Coast at Rudh an Dunain was a hereditary one, bestowed on a family named MacAskill, and among the more dauntless of these lieutenants was Donald Dubh (Black) MacAskill. There was none in all the isles more adept with the bow and arrow than Donald Dubh. (9)
One day he noticed a barge of the Clan Ranald in the sound of Canna. As the barge approached Rudh an Dunain, Donald Dubh recognised it to be intent on plunder, and manned by twelve stalwart MacDonalds. He quietly retired to the dun to collect an ample quiver, and then concealed himself behind a rock, from which he fired twelve arrows that killed the twelve rowers. Soon Clan Ranald's barge came ashore; and it was dashed to splinters against the very rocks at Rudh an Dunain that it had hoped to make in happier circumstances." (10)

And in another folk-tale:

"concerning a Lieutenant of the Coast who was known throughout Skye as MacDhomhnuill Dubh (son of Black Donald). In pursuance of his duties, this Lieutenant apprehended a man who formerly had been convicted of cattle-lifting, fire-raising, and even murder. The Son of Black Donald did not detain him long in captivity, but tried him on the spot. He decided to execute him, but, before doing so, he brought the prisoner to his own house, and supplied him extravagantly with bread and cheese and whisky, that he might thereby be the more able to endure his last moments on earth.
Thereafter the Son of Black Donald marched his captive up a steep brae above the sea at Rudh an Dunain, and beheaded him with his sword. And the head rolled down the slope, crying out as it rolled: "Faire, Faire, Mhic Dhomhnuill Dubh! (Beware, Beware, O Son of Black Donald!)"(10)

There is a great deal of variation in the spelling of the place, not surprising in the fact that Gaelic spelling has only relatively recently been standardised. In the past Rudh was spelt phonetically and versions such as Rhuendenen, Rondunane and Ru-an-Dunain appear in old rent rolls and histories. In Gaelic Rubh, Rudha and Ru mean a "promontory"; an is "of the" and Dunain, "fort" or "castle". In the above folk tales the dun, which is on a gob or beak of the headland, was used as a look-out and a site for a signal fire to warn of impending invasion or pillage.

On to the Lieutenants of the Coast 3.