North Uist, Garry Iochdrach

NF77 7 GARRY IOCHDRACH

NF/7724 7427

This partly free-standing aisled wheelhouse, perhaps built inside a ground-galleried broch, in North Uist was excavated by Erskine Beveridge in 1912-13 but the preliminary account of the work was not published until twenty years after his death [3].

1. The excavations

The site is on a small promontory on the south-west shore of Vallay strand and before excavation two lintels were visible above the sand; several more were un-covered in situ. These were evidently the lintels joining the free-standing radial piers to the outer wall; seven of these piers were found. The bridging lintels were 1.2m (4 ft) above the floor and and the resulting aisle varied in width between 76 - 102cm (30 - 40 in). One pier was bonded to the wall and was 1.98m (6 ft 6 in) long; the others varied in length from 0.92 – 1.16m (3ft - 3 ft 10 in) and from 40.5 – 53.5cm (16 - 21 in) in thickness.

The outer wall was free-standing on the seaward side, varying in thickness from 2.4 – 3.5m (8 - 11.5 ft) , but on the other side it seems to have been reveted against a bank of earth and stones and to have been only about 46cm (18 in) thick. The internal diameter of the building was 7.78m (25.5 ft) and that of the central area – defined by the inner ends of the piers and by a stone kerb which joined all except three – 3.97m (13 ft). These inner ends were 1.5m (5 ft) apart. The piers themselves survived to a maximum height of nearly 1.5m (5 ft) and the height of the pier-bonding lintels (1.2m, or 4 ft) suggests that they were never much higher. Most of the floor of the interior was paved and it rose at least 46cm (18 in) from north to south. Bays b and e had secondary paving at a higher level and stratified between the two floors of b were "fragments of patterned pottery" and a bone pin.

In the centre were found three superimposed hearths; the lowest was on the primary floor, the second 44cm (17 in) above it and the third 71cm (28 in). A layer of ash 91.5cm (3 ft) thick had accumulated on top of the uppermost hearth and this came to within 38cm (15 in) of the modern turf. The top and bottom hearths had four curved sided but the middle one was oval and smaller. The lowest hearth was 1.22 by 1.19m (4ft 6 in by 3 ft 11 in) and was paved in its northern half, the rest having a clay floor.

Also set into the floor were stone tanks or 'sinks'. One of these just south of the hearth measured 51 by 28 by 40.5cm deep (20 by 11 by 16 in) but, since its base was 30cm (1 ft) above the floor, it must have been added later. Two sinks, in Bays d and e, were primary and led to a covered drain under the paved floor which ran out under the wall (which is 3.51m, or 11.5 ft, thick at this point). In the wall of Bay d was an aumbry or cupboard which measured 40.5 by 35.5cm high (16 by 14 in) and 48cm (19 in) deep.

The entrance to the roundhouse was on the south-west and consisted of a short passage equipped with door-check which joined another at right angles to it and apparently within the thickness of the wall. Beveridge's plan suggests that some sort of mural gallery existed here, with another length on the north and north-east. Between these two lengths, and on the north-west, was an external chamber of some kind, attached to the wall and reached by a doorway from the interior. In this doorway was found a Roman coin of Constantius II (AD 335 - 61) although its stratigraphical context is not explained.

Nearby was a “harbour” measuring internally 14.8m by 3.80m (48.5 by 12.5 ft) ; its southern or seaward wall was 0.91 – 1.37m (3 - 4.5 ft) thick. Another small building was found to the north of the roundhouse, under a recent oval one. The older structure contained the shaft of a bronze pin with a loose ring head.

2. Discussion

The design of the wheelhouse is not altogether clear from Beveridge's description and it seems at least possible, judging from the 'galleries' in the wall, that the wheelhouse could have been inserted into a ruined broch. If this was the case the lower strata in the interior should belong to the broch rather than to the roundhouse; however no certainty is possible about this.

The site was certainly occupied for a long period judging from the super-imposed hearths and the deep ash deposits which almost filled the central area. If the coin of Constantius found in the annexe was at floor level then the roundhouse complex must have been in use until the later 4th century at the earliest, and perhaps into the 5th; unfortunately the exact significance of the coin in relation to the buildings cannot now be known.

The roundhouse roof seems likely to have been of rafters and thatch, resting on the inner ends of the stone piers as usual. Presumably the bays were either flat-roofed or under a large conical roof which rested on the main wallhead.

The pottery and artifacts found are mostly of standard middle Iron Age types and, as noted, the Roman coin could mean that this occupation lasted into the late 4th century, or even into the fifth. There are suggestions of late Iron Age combs and pins which could prolong the occupation for several more centuries but we do not know what level these finds came from.

This roundhouse was built in an unusual situation – very close to the sea judging from the harbour, or boat enclosure (in Sept. 1914 a high tide washed inside the excavated structure). The inhabitants doubtless depended more on fishing than most of their contemporaries. Alternatively – and if one can postulate such a thing for the Iron Age – it might have been a ferryhouse.

3. Finds

Until fairly recently the only inform-ation about the finds from this site came from the list, without illustrations, compiled by Beveridge [2, 41 - 2]. However in 1963 the National Museum received some of Beveridge's material from a third person – pottery and artifacts which turned out to be from Garry Iochdrach [3] – and some of these finds are shown here. Many of these artifacts are clearly those mentioned by Beveridge [2].

Iron artifacts included 22 fragments, very corroded, including rivets, knife blades, a two-pronged tool (12.5cm or 5 in long) and 4 lumps of slag.

Bronze: 1 loose ring-headed pin (the ring missing) from the chamber to the north of the roundhouse, 1 pin with ornamental head 7.5cm (3 in) long.

Bronze casting was signified by 2 crucibles, one of which was 5.0cm (2 in) in diameter, with the shape of a truncated cone, and showed traces of bronze (no. 00), the other was hemispherical and 27mm (7/8th in) in diameter.

Bone: 1 long handled comb 10cm (4 in) long with the stumps of ten teeth and decorated with two transverse bands of criss-cross incised lines (no. 15), fragments of a “small-toothed comb” with dot-and-circle decoration (not seen) which sounds like the composite type, 3 whorls, at least one of which is made from a human femur head, 2 needles (no. 11), one 6.5cm (2.5 in) long with a broad head, 5 pins 'with round heads' which may be the late Iron Age ball-headed type (no.13), 1 pin 7.5cm (3 in) long (the point missing) with an ornamental head, 1 long tool with both ends in spatulate form (no. 14), 1 roughly rectangular bone plate with 2 perforations at one end, and probably at the other too (no. 10), 17 pointed tools, “mostly of rude shape”, several fragments bearing traces of corroded iron, 1 deer-horn finger-ring, worked fragments including a piece of antler the broad end of which has been sawn (no. 18).

Stone: 45 hammerstones, parts of rotary querns (the type is not specified but saddle querns would be described as such), 2 pebble strike-a-lights, 5 whetstones, 6 smoothing stones, 1 granite ball 7.5cm (3 in) in diameter with two opposed hollows, 7 pot lids of mica schist 7.5 – 12.7cm (3 - 5 in) in diameter, 8 whorls or beads (4 domed and 2 flat) (no.16), 1 thin polished disc 5.0cm (2 in) in diameter and with fine scratches on it, 1 piece of the rim of a vessel of mica schist or steatite, 2 socket stones, 1 fragment of sandstone with a rectangle of grooves, perhaps a needle sharpener, 16 pumice fragments, 1 perforated.

Jet or shale: half of a bead 2.8cm (1-and-1/8th in) in diameter.

Fired clay: 14 whorls of drilled and cut-down potsherds (7 unpierced), 1 piece of a large pottery ring about 46cm (18 in) in diameter and 9.0cm (3.5 in) thick, 2 crucibles mentioned earlier.

Clay: 2 unbaked clay rings 12.5 (5 in) and 7.5cm (3 in) in diameter with holes 13mm (0.5 in) in diameter, 2 large lumps.

Roman: 1 coin of Constantius (AD 335 - 361).

Pottery: the sherds available for study include a surprising variety of types. There are a few Everted Rim sherds, including the neck-band variety (nos. 2 and 33) and the Clettraval sub-style (nos. 8 and 23), pieces of bucket-shaped, flat-rimmed vessels (nos. 27), 2 rim sherds of curious bucket-shaped pots with thickened rims (nos. 1 and 40), a fragment of a flat base plate with finger-impressions, presumably on the interior (no. 25), cordoned wall sherds (nos. 5 and 31), 1 double- cordoned fragment of a jar (the rim missing (no. 5), 1 thick Everted Rim with a neck band which looks like an early version of Dun Cuier ware (no. 33).

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF 77 SE 6: 2. Beveridge and Callendar 1932, 32 - 42: 3. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 96 (1962-63), 365, no. 22 (donations): 4. Armit 1992, 58-9: 5. Armit 1996, 143, 162: 6. Fanning 1983, , 341, no. 52: 7. Crawford 2002, 118, 121.

E W MacKie 2007