Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - Western Isles Sites and Monuments Record MWE21377 (None)
NMR: NL 58 SW 6 (21381)
SM: None
NGR: NL 5486 8120
X: 54860 Y: 781200 (OSGB36)
This cliff-girt islet, with rises sheer out of the sound between Mingulay and Berneray (Barra Head), is defended by a wall built along the leading edge of a terrace halfway down the NE flank, overlooking the broad wave-cut platform that provides the only point of access from the sea. The wall is some 30m in length and towards its S end the rough outer face stands up to 1.5m in height. There is no entrance through the wall, and the only access to the summit of the island is via the outcrops climbing steadily round its N end. The top of the island is relatively level, measuring about 150m from ENE to WSW by 85m transversely (1ha). The footings of at least five structures are visible on it, the largest of which is a remarkable rectangular building measuring 7m from E to W by 3.3m transversely within a wall no more than 0.75m in thickness and probably comprising a bank with an internal face of slabs. The entrance is in the E end, flanked by two upright slabs up to 1m in height which seem to have supported a massive lintel; this now lies fallen across the passage-way, which was probably also protected from the prevailing wind by an external baffle wall. This is probably not a prehistoric fortification, but the wall is evidently designed to control access, and while it might be the vallum of a monastic site, it might equally be the defences of a medieval or post-medieval stronghold. The RCAHMS investigators did not visit the island in 1915, but they were told, probably by the boatman, that there was a church of stone and lime on it, presumably a reference to the large rectangular building (RCAHMS 1928, 137, no. 468), and perhaps hinting at a local tradition that this was monastic enclosure.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -852212 Y: 7718116 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -7.655554430109673 Latitude: 56.7939293988434 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Western Isles
Historic County: Inverness-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Barra
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✓ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
Although not a promontory fort in the sense that this is a small island, the defensive wall blocks the access at one end
| Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✓ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✓ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 48.0m
N/A
The buildings on the summit, if indeed associated with the wall, imply a medieval or post-medieval occupation
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
Photographed from the air by RCAHMS in 2003
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1878): | The large rectangular building is annotated Dun on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Hebrides 1880, sheet 70) |
| Other (1915): | Description based on observation from adjacent islands (RCAHMS 1928, 137, no. 468) |
| Other (1915): | Description by J Wedderspoon, but probably from observations from the adjacent islands and the sea |
| Other (1965): | Visited by the OS, who noted six structures |
| Other (2010): | Description on brief visit by RCAHMS |
The footings of at least five structures, including a large rectangular building with its entrance in one end
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✓ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 0: | None |
| 2: | None observed but the topography dictates that access to the top of the island was gained on the N |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single wall cutting off access from the E
| Area 1: | 1.0ha. |
| Total: | 1.0ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
RCAHMS (1928) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Ninth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. HMSO: Edinburgh
Wedderspoon, J (1915) 'The shell middens of the Outer Hebrides'. Trans Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club 7 (1915), 315-37 (not necessarily the full page references)
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1