Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - Western Isles Sites and Monuments Record MWE4417 (None)
NMR: NB 56 NW 1 (4417)
SM: 5356
NGR: NB 5355 6501
X: 153550 Y: 965010 (OSGB36)
Dun Eistean is a cliff-girt rock stack cut off from the mainland by a precipitous sea-swept ravine, and has only recently become accessible via a footbridge. An area measuring about 90m from E to W by up to 60m transversely (0.48ha) is enclosed by a grass-grown bank, which has been shown by excavation to be the remains of a stone-faced turf rampart (Barrowman 2002), extending along the S margin of the stack above the ravine and returning at either end. Remains of a series of buildings can be seen within the interior, one of which is the stump of a tower (Barrowman 2001; 2005). Traditionally a stronghold associated with the Morrisons since the 16th century, the excavations have also demonstrated earlier medieval phases, but though it has often been assumed a likely site for a prehistoric predecessor (eg the Scheduling document), there is no evidence that this was the case.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Irreconciled issues
X: -693777 Y: 8073825 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -6.232307246072315 Latitude: 58.50343205500971 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Western Isles
Historic County: Ross-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Barvas
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 | ✗ |
None
| 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: 20.0m
N/A
Medieval to post-medieval
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | None |
Named topographical feature on 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Island of Lewis 1853, sheet 1), which also shows four of the buildings as ruins. Good series of oblique aerial photographs taken by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 2004 and 2011
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1865): | Description by Captain F W Thomas, possibly from information supplied by Rev M Macphail (Thomas 1890, 365-9; RCAHMS DC25544) |
| Excavation (1866): | Trench dug by Rev M Macphail (Barrowman 2006) |
| Other (1914): | Description (RCAHMS 1928, 7, no.15) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1969): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1992): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (2000): | Survey by GUARD (RCAHMS MS/725/287) |
| Geophysical Survey (2001): | Survey by GUARD |
| Excavation (2001): | Evaluation by GUARD (Barrowman 2001) |
| Excavation (2002): | In advance of footbridge (Barrowman 2002) |
| Excavation (2005): | Barrowman 2005 |
| Excavation (2006): | Barrowman 2006 |
| Excavation (2007): | Barrowman 2007 |
Series of rectangular buildings, one of which is the stump of a tower
Pond identified by RCAHMS in 1914
| 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 | ✗ |
Uncertain content
| No Known Geophysics | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
All finds are medieval to post-medieval
| 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
| 1: | None |
| 2: | Entrance into the Post-medieval stronghold faces onto the ravine on the S, but there was also access from the sea. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South): | None |
Stone faced turf rampart
| Area 1: | 0.48ha. |
| Total: | 0.48ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Turf core
| 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 |
Barrowman, C (2001) 'Dun Eistean, Ness, Lewis, Western Isles (Barvas parish), promontory enclosure and dun; medieval fortification'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 2 (2001), 99-100, fig 40
Barrowman, C (2002) 'Dun Eisdean, Ness, Lewis, Western Isles (Barvas parish), dun and medieval fortifications'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 3 (2002), 119
Barrowman, C (2006) 'Dun Eistean Archaeology Project, Western Isles (Barvas parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 7 (2006), 171-2
Barrowman, R C (2005) 'Dun Eistean Archaeology Project, Western Isles (Barvas parish), fortified settlement on sea stack'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 6 (2005), 144
Barrowman, R C (2007) 'Dun Eistean Archaeology Project, Western Isles (Barvas parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 8 (2007), 195-196
Burgess, C 2008 Ancient Lewis and Harris, Lewis: Hebridean Archaeological Interpretation Programme, 61-2, no. 3 (with plan)
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
Thomas, F W L (1890) 'On the duns of the Outer Hebrides'. Archaeol Scot 5 (1890), 365-415
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