Field Visit
Date 18 July 1924
Event ID 1103447
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1103447
Dun Ban, Loch Caravat, North Uist.
Dun Ban, on an islet about 200 yards from the southern shore of Loch Caravat, is possibly the most interesting of the insulated dwellings in the Western Isles, for while it must be classed with the island duns and is one of a plan common in the neighbourhood, it is a mediaeval structure built with lime mortar and having features in common with the castles of the mainland, with which the builder was evidently familiar. (Fig. 123.) The islet is entirely occupied by the structure, which measures externally 64 by 71 feet and is D-shaped on plan, the frontal curve lying towards the east being penetrated by a re-entrant containing the doorway. The outer wall, 9 feet in greatest height, averages 6 ½ feet in thickness and is built of rubble roughly coursed, with pinnings in places, laid in a heavy lime mortar bed of poor quality containing sea shells. While the masonry of the entrance is heavily grouted, in the other parts mortar seems to have been used only for bedding. The entrance is set back 12 feet within a recess similar to the “boat harbour” noted in other duns. The doorway is 4 feet wide, and the sill is 3 feet above the foundation and 3 ½ feet above the water; the jambs are checked on either side for the door, and the bar hole 8 inches square is found in the southern jamb, the- corresponding socket being ruinous. (Fig. 120.)
The interior is divided transversely into two unequal portions. The inner, which lies at a lower level than the other, is a dwelling apparently one-storeyed and comprising a single chamber 51 ½ by 19 ¼ feet, which contains two aumbries and narrow windows with splayed jambs to north and east. Other chambers in the outer part are represented only by mounds of debris, but it is probable that small angular chambers roofed with flags lay on either side of the entrance.
RCAHMS 18 July 1924.
OS map: North Uist xl
