Lewis, Rudha Na Berie, Dun A' Bheirgh

Promontory Fort, Rudha na Berie, South Shawbost.

Fronting the Atlantic on the west coast of Lewis, about ¾ mile west of the township of South Shawbost, is a rocky peninsula, Rudha na Berie, rising over 100 feet above sea-level and connected with the land by a narrow neck. The promontory reaches its highest point at the seaward extremity, and measures about 230 yards in length and 100 yards in breadth. Across the isthmus at its narrowest part are the remains of a stone wall stretching from the edge of the cliff on the north to within 12 feet of the edge of the precipice on the south, this space being left as an entrance to the fort. The north or inner side of this entrance is still traceable. The rampart has been of considerable strength, as in parts the tumbled stones cover a width of 23 feet. It measures about 102 feet in length, and the outer foundation course can still be traced for the greater part of that distance. Some 30 feet from the outside of this defence is a shallow ditch 7 feet wide with a low bank on either side rising 1 ½ feet above the bottom of the cut.

A short distance from the inner side of the entrance, almost abutting on the edge of the cliff on the south side of the peninsula, there are traces of the foundations of one, if not two, small enclosures.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 20 June 1914.

There is a patch of lazy beds immediately behind the walls of the promontory fort.

Information from RCAHMS (SMDG) 7 February 2005

This fort occupies a large cliff-girt promontory running out into the sea to the NW of South Shawbost. Its defences comprise the remains of three walls, which have been drawn across the neck of the promontory to bar access to an area of measuring about 205m from ESE to WNW by up to 95m transversely (1.2ha), though for a distance of about 100m behind the defences, heavy erosion along its flanks of the till deposits capping the outcrop is actively reducing its original surface area. The innermost of the walls has probably been the thickest, though it is now difficult to determine an exact measurement. The line of the outer face is clearly distinguishable, backed at either end by a band of debris spread between 2m and 3m in thickness, but most of the rubble has been drawn together into the central sector, where there is a massive mound of stones about 10m broad by up to 0.8m high. Presumably the result of a later occupation, traces of several structures can be detected within the body of the mound. The two outer walls, set at intervals of 7m and 3m apart, have been reduced to low banks 2m thick by 0.4m high studded with a few boulders, some of which probably belong to their faces. Traces of a later rectilinear enclosure can be seen inserted into the gap between the inner and middle wall on the W. The position of the original entrance into the fort is uncertain, and it is now difficult to determine whether the gap identified as the entrance at the W end of the inner wall by RCAHMS investigators in 1914, where the wall peters out on the eroding flank of the promontory, is the result of accident or design. The interior is made up of two elements, comprising a gentle grassy slope at the landward end from which the outcrops rise up above a natural sea arch to a summit at 32m OD. While this end is largely bare rock, traces of low cultivation ridge can be seen on the slope dropping down the cropped sward towards the NE, and probably overriding the footings of a rectangular building on the crest of the slope on the WSW; measuring overall about 15m in length by 5m in breadth, two slabs set about 0.8m apart in the SE end may mark the position of its entrance.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2762