Publication Account

Date 2007

Event ID 587490

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/587490

Euan W Mackie Broch Corpus 2

NF87 2 DUN AN STICIR

NF/897777

This unexcavated but well preserved broch in North Uist stands on an islet near the centre of a shallow, tidal loch and barely a quarter of a mile from Port nan Long from which a foot ferry has long run northwards across the Sound to Harris (visited in 1971, 14/8/85 and 24/6/88). Regrettably no large scale plan seems to have been made of this interesting site, nor of Dun Torcuill, below (NF87 4) (however the Ordnance Survey investigators made a small-scale plan [1]). The Archaeology Division of the Ordnance Survey was abolished in about 1974 and its Scottish records were handed over to the Royal Commission AHMS in Edinburgh. The OS card index, and its site numbering system based on the 10km grid squares, forms the basis of the data on the modern RCAHMS 'Canmore' web site. If one is staying in Harris both this broch and Dun Torcuill (below) can easily be visited on foot from the southern terminal of the ferry.

Description

The broch is reached by a stone causeway from another islet near the north shore (where there is a shallow bay) which is itself reached by two further causeways – from the east and west ends of the bay. The causeway to the broch island is 3.0m wide and resembles a flat road just above water level, with kerbs of heavier stones; it terminates 7.3m (24 ft) from the broch and there is a flat, grass-covered platform between [2, fig. 109]. It has been suggested that, since the road is suitable for wheeled vehicles (much of it is still turf-covered), it could be a late medieval modification of the original causeway, constructed at the time of the late building inside the broch (below). The more massive first causeway (the shorter one on the west) is of huge slabs, is 2.75m (9 ft) wide and runs from the north shore of the loch to the intermediate Eilean na Mi-chomhairle. Intriguingly the name of this small island is very similar to Eilean na Comhairle, the 'Council Isle', in Loch Finlaggan in Islay – the headquarters of the Lordship of The Isles from the 13th to the 15th centuries. One wonders whether the construction of the medieval building inside Dun an Sticir had something to do with the Lordship. If so one would expect the broch island to bear this name, since it has an appropriate building. On the other hand a local legend associates the house with a later time, at the beginning of the 17th century [2].

The broch sits on one side of a flat islet somewhat larger than itself so that there is a broad, grassy platform on the side away from the causeway. The building was reclassified as a “galleried dun” [1, 4] rather than as a broch [3] but without any explanation of what the difference is, except that the building is sub-circular and that the wall appears to be of uneven thickness. Since the structure is unexcavated, still stands quite high and is partly concealed by a later building this last point is perhaps not proven. Much of its stone was presumably taken for the medieval building on top of it, and probably for a nearby road dyke.

The outer wallface is strongly battered and is preserved best on the eastern side where it rises to about 2.4m (8 ft) above some recent buildings at its base. The main entrance is on the south-west, facing along the causeway and a massive lintel in the form of a truncated triangle lies on the ground in front of it; it must once have roofed the outer end. The wallface on the left above the passage lintels may be the side of the chamber over the entrance, reused in later times as the medieval entrance passage (below).

The guard cell on the right has been broken into from the front (this is the shadowed area that can be seen from the shore) and is filled with debris to within 1.07m (3.5 ft) of the part of the roof that remains. The lintel of the passageway leading from this cell into the main entrance is clearly visible, as are the upper sides of at least one of the lintels of the passage itself at a slightly higher level. It is clear that the roof of the cell is not the remains of a corbelled dome but has been made of stepped lintels; the floor of the Level 2 gallery must therefore rise slightly to cross over the cell below. In this sense Dun an Sticir could be described as an architecturally more primitive broch, like Midhowe (HY33 1) and Dun Telve (NG81 2), rather than a more sophisticated one with an elegantly corbelled, beehive dome over its guard cell like Dun Mor Vaul, Tiree (NM04 4).

The upper gallery can be seen running round for more than half the circumference of the broch and a void from it to the interior can be seen on the south-west. At 4 o'clock on the south side the outer face is about 1.5m (5 ft) high and the inner face of a mural gallery there rises 1.8m (6 ft) higher; this must therefore also be part of the Level 2 gallery and indeed one lintel of the lower gallery is visible in situ here.

The late medieval house. A rectangular stone house of mortared masonry has been erected on top of the central court of the broch (see Dun Ringill, Skye – NG51 4) and it measures 10.0m by 4.6m internally; its level floor is 1.7m below the present wallhead of the broch. The entrance in the south-west is on top of the broch entrance and aligned in the same direction; it seems likely that the lintels of the latter were used as its floor. This passage is 1.1m wide and runs through a wall 2.5m thick.

There is another doorway on the north-north-west, also 1.1m wide and the outer end of which is raised into a sill 38cm (15 in) high, formed by the outer wallface of the broch appearing above the debris. A splayed window is the west wall of the house, near the south-west corner. The site is traditionally associated with Hugh, son of Archibald the Clerk, in about 1601-02 [2] and the rectangular house may well be his.

There are outbuildings of uncertain date between the broch and its outer wall.

Discussion

The fact that the site is unexcavated and covered by a late building makes it difficult to infer the architectural details of the primary structure with any confidence. The design of Level 1 is obscure; only the entrance passage and the right-hand guard cell are visible. Level 2 is sufficiently well preserved for two diagnostic features of the broch tower design – the chamber over the entrance and an upper gallery – to be revealed. No doubt the scarcement is still intact on the inside wallface but buried under rubble. The site would surely repay systematic exploration.

Finds?

Several glass beads, some probably from this site, are in the National Museums of Scotland collection [5]. They wre described as coming from “Caolais, Newton” (where Beveridge found some cists) and from “Dun Torquil at Newton.” However this broch is some way away from Newton whereas Dun an Sticir is close by. The author has not seen the beads.

Dimensions

External diameter 18.3 - 18.6m (60 - 61 ft), internal diameter (obviously well above floor level, and probably above the scarcement) about 12.2m (40 ft); the wall proportion at the wallhead is thus about 35% but must be greater lower down.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF 87 NE 1: 2. Beveridge 2001, 138-44: 3. RCAHMS 1928, 51-2, no. 171: 4. Feachem 1963: 5. NMRS site no. NF 87 NE 24.

E W MacKie 2007