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North Uist, Breinish, Loch An Duin, Dun Nighean Righ Lochlainn
Causeway (Prehistoric), Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name North Uist, Breinish, Loch An Duin, Dun Nighean Righ Lochlainn
Classification Causeway (Prehistoric), Dun (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 10242
Site Number NF86SE 3
NGR NF 8637 6399
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10242
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF86SE 3 8636 6398.
(NF 8636 6398) A symmetrical dun stands in a small loch upon the peninsula of Breinish, little more than 50 yards from the N shore of Loch Eford ('Eport' - OS). It is known locally as "Dun nighean righ Lochlainn" or "Dun Eideann."
The dun has been approached from the NW by a causeway 25 yards long and is 28ft N-S and 32ft E-W, the surrounding wall having an average thickness of 4ft 6ins and a present maximum height of 6ft.
The inner area is overgrown and completely filled with loose stones thus indicating little of its original plan.
Information from OS (BRS) 8 March 1965.
E Beveridge 1911.
The dun is as described above but there is no trace of the causeway. The entrance appears to have been in the SE. Neither of the names given by Beveridge could be confirmed locally.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 11 June 1965.
Field Visit (4 August 1915)
Dun Nighean Righ Lochlainn, Loch an Duin, Breinish.
This dun is situated on an islet in the very small loch, Loch an Duin, lying at the eastern border of the peninsula of Breinish on the northern shore of Loch Eport, from which it is separated by a ridge of land barely 100 yards in width. Sometimes called Dun Eideann, Dun Nighean Righ Lochlainn bears a strong resemblance to the dun of the same name in Portain (NF97SE 4), the north-eastern part of North Uist. The dun occupies the whole area of the islet and is surrounded by a stone wall rising directly out of the water with a slight inward batter, which still shows a height of about 5, feet 6 inches, except on the north-east where it is only about 2 feet 6 inches high. The wall measures about 4 feet 6 inches in width across the top. The fort is oval on plan, measuring all over some 31 feet from north-west to south-east, and some 26 feet across. The position of the entrance is doubtful; on the north-west, opposite the nearest point of land some 86 feet distant, a collapse in the wall may indicate where it was situated, while at the opposite side, the southeast, what appears to be the western jamb of an opening can be detected under a thick cover of honeysuckle and brambles. There are evidently structures within the dun, but these are quite hidden under very rank vegetation and brushwood. (Fig. 108.)
From the north-western shore of the loch, what looks like the commencement of a stone causeway extends some 32 feet into the water in the direction of the dun, but in the next 54 feet there are no indications of its continuation in the bed of the loch, which is 4 feet 6 inches deep at this part.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 August 1915.
OS map: North Uist xl (unnoted).
