North Uist, Portain, Loch Na Caiginn
Causeway (Prehistoric), Dun (Prehistoric), Farmstead (Medieval)
Site Name North Uist, Portain, Loch Na Caiginn
Classification Causeway (Prehistoric), Dun (Prehistoric), Farmstead (Medieval)
Canmore ID 10444
Site Number NF97SE 2
NGR NF 95123 71991
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10444
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF97SE 2 95123 71991.
(NF 9510 7199) Dun (NR)
OS 62Map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)
The remains of a dun are situated in the N end of Loch na Caiginn, accessible over a substantial causeway. The island end of this interrupted causeway has been flanked by two lateral walls at right angles built out from the fort into the water. This elaborate defence is unusual. The island is oval in shape with indications of having been at one time completely surrounded by a wall close to the water's edge.
E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928.
All that remains of the dun, which is 12.0m in diameter, is the outer face of the wall, clearly visible to a height of 1.2m in the S. The causeway which rises 1.0m above the level of the loch, and is 1.3m wide, has two horn-like walls abutting at the island end which are probably later. A medieval farmstead, which has been built on and around the dun, consists of the greatly mutilated remains of two almost rectangular buildings built against the outer wall, and an oval building which has been built in the interior. There are also two smaller cells in the interior which may be part of the dun. The tumbled remains of a wall surround the island.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 24 June 1965.
Field Visit (22 July 1914)
Dun, Loch na Caiginn, Portain.
Some 3 miles north-east of Lochmaddy, on the Portain peninsula, is Loch na Caiginn, separated by a narrow strip of land from the inner end of Loch Portain. About 33 yards from the extremity of a promontory on the west side of the loch is a small island, barely 50 yards in length from north-west to south-east and about 40 yards in breadth, rising only a few feet above the present level of the loch. The islet is encircled by the remains of a stone wall built some 6 or 8 feet from the water's edge and still attaining a height of about 3 feet in places. Towards the western or landward side of the island are the ruins of a circular dun measuring 45 feet in diameter externally, some 15 feet intervening between it and the outer rampart. The building is much dilapidated, but the outer face is traceable all round and shows a height of three feet 6 inches towards the east, where it is best preserved. The interior is filled with fallen stones obliterating the inner face of the wall, so that its thickness cannot at present be determined. Within the north-west quadrant of the interior, at a distance of 12 feet 6 inches from the outside of the wall of the dun, is a circular building measuring 5 feet in diameter across the top of the fallen stones with which it is almost filled. This building is of the beehive type, the corbelling of the walls being clearly defined. Adjoining it to the south a section of the curved wall of a large chamber is noticeable. The entrance to the dun is from the north-west, slightly to the west of the circular chamber, and measures 2 feet 4 inches in breadth.
Access to the fort is attained from the nearest point of land by a well preserved causeway with a slight double curve, like a flattened out S, in its course, which measures 99 feet in length and about 5 feet in breadth. It stands 2 feet above the present level of the water, and several large protruding stones may have been so placed to impede the approach of an enemy. The island end of the causeway is defended by two horn-like walls of stone running out into the loch. These, as in the similar case of Dun Buidhe, Benbecula (NF75SE 1), appear to be late constructions, intended to keep cattle from straying on to the island. The walls have their concave side towards the shore and extend into deep water at either end.
RCAHMS 1928, visited by J G Callander, 22 July 1914.
OS map: North Uist xxxii.
Measured Survey (12 July 1924)
RCAHMS surveyed this site by plane-table on 12 July 1924. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced size in RCAHMS 1928 as Figure 113.
