North Uist, Loch Fada
Causeway (Prehistoric)(Possible), Fortified Island (Prehistoric)
Site Name North Uist, Loch Fada
Classification Causeway (Prehistoric)(Possible), Fortified Island (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 10352
Site Number NF87SE 19
NGR NF 8796 7121
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10352
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF87SE 19 8796 7121.
(NF 8796 7121) The remains of an enclosing wall are traceable on an island (120 x 50 yards), situated at the east end of Loch Fada and occupying almost the whole width of the island. Part of the west side is more or less naturally defended by a line of vertical rock.
Evidence suggests there were entrances at its north and south extremities, with causeways from both points to the neighbouring shores. An interior wall stands at the south end but a dense covering of peat hides what traces there may be of separate buildings, except for one just near the northern boundary wall.
Portions of two querns were found on the east shore.
E Beveridge 1911.
Along the N, E and W sides of this island are the remains of walling, largely turf-covered but exposed near the water's edge. The wst side is naturally defended by living rock. Narrow entrances were detected in the N and S walls, but only indistinct traces of the southern causeway could be seen.
The vegetation has been burned off recently but no internal structures were observed.
This feature is probably a dun.
Visited by OS (R B) 21 June 1965.
Field Visit (4 August 1914)
Fortified Island, Loch Fada.
About 550 yards west of the end of the eastern arm of Loch Fada is a long, narrow islet of irregular contour rising about 10 feet at most above the level of the loch, and measuring barely 100 yards from north-west to south-east and about 140 feet across at its widest part. It is covered by a thick layer of peat, but along its eastern side and southern end the face of a stone wall is visible in many places under the peat, showing at most 2 to 3 feet of building. Except at the southern end, where it is rather higher, it shows a general elevation of about 1 foot above the level of the interior, and its average width is about 4 feet. Some 50 feet from this outer wall at the south end a bank, running straight across the island from the west side for about two-thirds of its width, has the appearance of an inner defence. The outer wall cannot be traced along the western margin of the island, which, though more rocky than the other side, is not difficult of access. N ear the centre of the eastern boundary is a gap about 6 feet wide, apparently an entrance, and a smaller gap less marked near the north-eastern corner of the island may have served a similar purpose, as may another gap at the southern end. At the extreme north is a mass of tumbled stone, perhaps the ruins of a building, near which, just above the water level, are three slabs like lintel stones, the largest of which measures5 feet 8 inches long, 2 feet 5 inches broad and 3 inches thick.
On the northern shore of the loch about 35 yards distant is an irregular setting of stones projecting into the water which looks like the end of a submerged causeway.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 August 1914.
OS map: North Uist xxxv (unnoted).
Note (9 January 2015 - 30 May 2016)
This elongated island spanning the E end of the N arm of Loch Fada is enclosed by a wall, which can be traced around much of its margin. Irregular on plan, the peat and heather-clad interior, which rises about 3m above the level of the surrounding loch, measures about 100m from NNW to SSE by up to 37m transversely (0.27ha). The wall is about 1.2m in thickness and stands up to 0.9m high externally in some places. While the RCAHMS investigators noted a bank cutting across the island towards the S end, this is not mentioned by the OS, who visited shortly after the heather had been burnt off in 1965. And while the RCAHMS investigators noted gaps in the surrounding wall on the E, NE and S, only the latter two were observed by the OS. Likewise Erskine Beveridge asserted that there were causeways linking the island to the shore on both the N and the S, but the only evidence of a causeway observed by the RCAHMS investigators was on the N shore of the loch.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 30 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2672
