Lewis, Dun Bharclin
Fortified Island (Prehistoric)
Site Name Lewis, Dun Bharclin
Classification Fortified Island (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Dun Barkin, Loch Leurbost
Canmore ID 4234
Site Number NB32SE 2
NGR NB 3945 2327
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4234
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Lochs
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NB32SE 2 3945 2327.
(NB 394 233) Dun (OE) (Site of)
Dun Bharclin has a ruined wall around the edge of the island. The foundation stones of the outer face can be seen in many places, and in one place the face of the inner wall can also be seen, giving a thickness of 10ft.
"On the east side of the foundation is a beehive cell, 5ft in diameter, being no doubt the guard-room of the gate ... Traces of ancient huts were evident."
"Dun Barkin ... A tumbled mass of stone, 12ft broad in places, showing the outer foundation course in position at various parts, extends along the greater portion of the SE side of the island but, except for a short segment,on the opposite side it has been entirely removed ... There are indeterminate traces of buildings towards the SW end of the dun."
RCAHMS 1928, visited 2 July 1914.
Dun Bharclin, at NB 3945 2327, is a fortified island, not a dun.
The rocky elongated island is isolated except at extreme low tides, with a spread tumbled wall, 0.4m average height, around the N, S and E margins of the island, with traces of walling in the eroded west cliff, indicating measurements of approximately 73.0m NE-SW by 17.0m NW-SE. Very few facing stones can now be traced with certainty, and it is impossible to establish the wall thickness.
There are no definite traces of the entrance, of the the beehive cell and huts described by Thomas, or of the buildings mentioned by the RCAHMS, but the wall has obviously been robbed and this, together with ground disturbance within, suggests later use.
Visited by OS (N K B) 23 June 1969.
Field Visit (26 June 1914)
Dun, Loch an Duna, Leurbost.
About ¼ mile east of the road from Stornoway to Crossbost and ¾ mile north-east of Leurbost is a small loch, Loch an Duna, near whose northern end and within 35 yards of the western shore is a small island surmounted by the remains of a dun. All that now survives is a ruined stone wall built round the water's edge. The rampart has tumbled down, but on the west side a part of the outer face remains in position for a length of some 12 feet and a height of about 4 feet. Viewed from the shore there seems to be an inner building on the southern half of the island.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 26 June 1914.
OS map: Lewis xxxiii.
Note (29 January 2015 - 3 November 2016)
This fort encloses a narrow island that is only accessible from the adjacent shore of the mainland or the island of Risay at extreme low tide. The heavily-robbed and spread wall can be traced around most of its margin, though only surviving in clefts on the eroded W side, and encloses an area measuring 73m from NNE to SSW by a maximum of 17m transversely (0.09ha). The OS could not identify the structure described as a beehive cell by Captain F W Thomas (1890, 380), which he thought might be a guard cell for the entrance, implying it was integral to the wall, nor the indeterminate traces of structures observed by RCAHMS investigators at the SSW end of the interior (RCAHMS 1928, 12, no.40).
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 03 November 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2764
