SC2773: Lewis, Dun Eorradail   |
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HER:  Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - Western Isles Sites and Monuments Record MWE4429
NMR:  NB 56 SW 13 (4429)
SM:  ✗
NGR:  NB 5426 6297
X:  154259  Y:  962965  (EPSG:27700)
Boundary:  ✗
This isolated rock stack, which is separated from the mainland by a precipitous ravine, stands at the S end of the bay at Port of Ness. Cliff-girt and inaccessible around the landward side, a wall can be seen extending along the lip of the ravine, though in the opinion of the OS surveyor who gained access in 1969 it appeared more life a field-dyke than a fortification. Indeed, aerial photographs and satellite imagery suggest this dyke encloses the whole of the flat summit, an irregular area measuring 150m from ESE to WNW by a maximum of 90m transversely (0.78ha). Within this area there are at least ten rectangular buildings, presumably a settlement of medieval or post-medieval date and accessed from the spine of rocks that runs out into the sea on the NNE. A natural stronghold, it should perhaps be compared with Dun Eistean (Atlas No.2772) a little further north, where excavations on a similar location have failed to reveal any evidence for occupation or fortification prior to the medieval period.
Citizen Science:   | ✗   |
Reliability of Data:   | Confirmed |
Reliability of Interpretation:   | Unconfirmed:   | The enclosure around the summit of this stack is more likely to be the remains of a medieval or post-medieval stronghold than a prehistoric fortification. |
X:  -692182  Y:  8070008  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -6.217974  Latitude:  58.485515  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Western Isles
Historic County:   Ross-shire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Barvas
Extant:   | ✓ |
Cropmark:   | ✗ |
Likely Destroyed:   | ✗ |
Woodland:   | ✗ |
Commercial Forestry Plantation:   | ✗ |
Parkland:   | ✗ |
Pasture (Grazing):   | ✗ |
Arable:   | ✗ |
Scrub/Bracken:   | ✗ |
Bare Outcrop:   | ✗ |
Heather/Moorland:   | ✗ |
Heath:   | ✗ |
Built-up:   | ✗ |
Coastal Grassland:   | ✓ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Isolated sea stack
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:  ✗
North:   | ✗ |
Northeast:   | ✗ |
East:   | ✗ |
Southeast:   | ✗ |
South:   | ✗ |
Southwest:   | ✗ |
West:   | ✗ |
Northwest:   | ✗ |
Level:   | ✓ |
Altitude:  28.0m
Boundary Type:   | ✗ |
Second HER:  ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  ✗
Second Historic County:  ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  ✗
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences, but on analogy with Dun Eistean (Atlas No.2772) a little further north, this may be a post-medieval stronghold.
Reliability:  D - None
Pre 1200BC:   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC:   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC:   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50:   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400:   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800:   | ✗ |
Post AD800:   | ✓ |
Unknown:   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort Activity:   | ✗   |
Post Hillfort Activity:   | ✓   | Clearly rectangular buildings within the interior |
Named topographical feature on 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Island of Lewis 1853, sheet 3), which also shows two buildings as ruins. Photographed by RCAHMS Aerial Survey Programme in 2004
Other (1865):   | Noted by Captain F W Thomas (1890, 369) |
Other (1969):   | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
At least ten rectangular buildings
None:   | ✓ |
Spring:   | ✗ |
Stream:   | ✗ |
Pool:   | ✗ |
Flush:   | ✗ |
Well:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Features:   | ✗ |
Round Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Stone Structures:   | ✓ |
Curvilinear Platforms:   | ✗ |
Other Roundhouse Evidence:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
No Known Geophysics:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
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:   | ✗ |
None known
Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:   | 0  |
Number of Possible Original Entrances:   | 0:   | Not known |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:   | ✗   |
Single turf and stone wall
Enclosed Area 1:   | 0.78ha. |
Enclosed Area 2:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 3:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 4:   | ✗ |
Total Enclosed Area:   | 0.8ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  ✗
Multi-period Enclosure System:   | ✗   |
Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:   | ✓   |
Number of Ramparts:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✓ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate: | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✗ |
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✓ |
Stone Wall:   | ✓ |
Rubble:   | ✗ |
Wall-walk:   | ✗ |
Evidence of Timber:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✗ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Murus Duplex:   | ✗ |
Timber-framed:   | ✗ |
Timber-laced:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Gang Working:   | ✗  |
Ditches:  ✗
Number of Ditches:   |
Annex:   | ✗   |
Burgess, C (1999) 'Promontory enclosures on the Isle of Lewis, the Western Isles, Scotland'. In Frodsham, P, Topping, P and Cowley, D 'We were always chasing time.' Papers presented to Keith Blood, Northern Archaeol (Spec Edition), 17/18 (1999)
Thomas, F W L (1890) 'On the duns of the Outer Hebrides'. Archaeol Scot 5 (1890), 365-415
Atlas of Hillforts:  https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C2773
Wikidata:  http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31120072
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.